The Demigod
by Brotherhood Of War
Summary: takes place during the fifth season. A messenger of the Gods wants to change history by giving a little help to the Scoobies. 1st story read and tell me what you think
1. Chapter 1

The fist seemed to slow as it came at her face and the impact of it against her cheek blinded her momentarily. The brunette threw her own into the solar plexus of the tall blonde man in front of her. He was bent at the waist as she put her knee into his face to knock him unconscisce. The crowd around her cheered as the announcer raised her hand in victory.

"The winner and still your champion Warrior." was spoken all throughout the arena. As the tall petite girl walked out of the ring with her face and fists covered with blood. She walks back into the locker room, after collecting her winnings, to change and wash the blood off her face. She had just got her bloody tank top off when a deep voice cut her from her thoughts.

"Nice job tonight Warrior. But when are you going to tell me your real name?" She turned to find a tall black man behind her.

"Well Clay," she said as she sauntered up to him and whispered into his ear "never."

"Now come on I keep finding people for you to fight and you haven't told me anything other than what you want people to call you." He angrily said to the girl as she finished dressing in her dark blue jeans, white t-shirt, with black leather boots and a pair of dog tags.

"And I thank you for that but I'm not going to tell so stop asking and take your money to buy yourself a drink." she replied calmly before handing him his half and walking away. The man stayed in his spot knowing better than follow after her as she would leave him broken in the middle of the road.

'This is getting too easy for me.' she thinks as she heads to the bar not too far from her hotel room.

"Now what do we have here? You been fighting again Shane McClay." The bartender stating the obvious knowing that she never walked in if she hadn't.

"Yeah and I could do with a double shot of Jack Daniels and then a couple more, Jake." Shane said and downed the shot and the next as he gave it to her like it was water.

"This next shot will be on me, Daughter of Aries. And before you hit me maybe you should listen to me as it concerns your half-sister, Tara." The voice belong to a man with dark brown hair and a suit which didn't stop the angered women from pinning him to the bar by his throat. "If you've done anything to her no one on Heaven and Earth will stop me." She snarled into his face

Gasping for air he managed to choke out that he wanted to stop what was going to happen to her. The stranger went on to explain that he was a messenger and she was to pick up a girl that they had managed to release from prison to help stop the end of the world.

"Where is this girl and where do I pick her up?" Shane questioned then she added sarcastically "Knowing her name would also make this perfect"

"Her name is Faith and both she and you will be needed in Sunnydale to win. She will protest at first but I think you of all people can persuade her."

So Shane arrived at the prison the next day and waited for Faith to get finished with her release, she sees her come into the front area and approaches her. "Faith, you and me are heading to Sunnydale to help save the world that's why you've been released. But before we go, why do I sense you to be part god?"

"I don't know and who the hell are you to demand me to go back there where they would kill me with no hesitation." Faith demanded, going on the defensive with this person setting off her slayer senses.

"I'm Shane and your coming cause I need to help my sister so you shut your mouth and come get in my truck so we can make it there for her twentieth birthday." She took a deep breath knowing she had to calm down. "Look I left both my mother and her with 2 abusive bastards when I was 8. The least I can do is try to help her so please come with me." Shane pleaded to the dark slayer.

"OK and maybe I can make it up to B. Show her that I am trying redemption." Faith replied relaxing after the demi-gods plea.

They rode down to Sunnydale swapping life stories and becoming close friends during the ride. When they got into town, they went straight to the Magic Box, as the stranger had said to go. They walk in to see that Buffy was giving a speech about how Mr. McClay had to go through her to get Tara to leave against her will then proclaiming was family.

"Tara get in the car or I swear by god I will beat you down." Donny said just about to get in Tara's face. That was all it took to get Shane to stop just watching and talk. She snarled "You do that Donny and you will be nothing more than corpse on the floor."

That made everyone in the room jump as they hadn't noticed them come in. Buffy went into protect mode at seeing Faith standing there. Shane addressed the rest of the McClay clan "Leave now and I can't believe you would lie to Tara about her being a demon. I have watch what you have done since the day I left and now you will let her live her life free of you and if I see you anywhere near her I will kill you without a second thought. Do you understand me?" They could only nod as they fled with their tails between their legs.

Tara just stood there people were talking to her but she couldn't really hear them. All she could was stare at her big sister. Buffy then turns her attention to the visitors and starts to Question them. "Faith, what are you doing here and whose this and how does she know Tara plus why aren't you in jail?"

Shane response "I'm Shane and the gods have deemed that she can help and have pardoned her. As for how I know Tara, I'm her half sister." Shane bowed her head in shame saying "if she still accepts me and can forgive me."

Tara sees and hears all Shane did and didn't say. She surprised everyone and Shane, when she ran and hugged her with tears in her eyes. She whispered of course into Shane's ear which nearly brought her to tears.

"Thank you so much and happy birthday sis." Shane says lovingly

"So what are you doing here and what do you mean by the gods have released Faith to help?" a confused watcher asked from his spot at the counter.

"Well I came because a messenger had told me that my sister was in danger and the gods can free Faith from prison because they are, well, gods. They have influences everywhere." Shane explained in a duh kind of voice.

"Hey Shane, shouldn't we find a place to stay while we are here so that kind of means we should go now?" Faith asked with a desperate tone to get out of there.

Buffy turns sharply at hearing Faith talk for the first time since walking in and glares her down while stating with more venom than a rattlesnake "I'm not letting you out of my sight until I know you can be trusted."

"Well what do you want me to do then, B, sleep on the ground in front of your house or you going to chain me up." Faith replied with equal hostillity.

"whoa, now lets all take a breather and Buffy, Zues provided us with a place as he would like me to train Faith for some odd reason. So here's the address and I believe that we have a birthday to celebrate. Also get use to Faith because from the sound of it none of you are equally as innocent. Sure she killed one guy on accident, murdered another on purpose, and a bunch of other stuff but how quickly did you give up on her and leave her to rot for herself not only in a bull shit hotel room but a bleak hospital room after you attempted to kill her for your boyfriend the vampire as you probably would have done the first time you guys fought over when she found out that he was alive from your zeppo friend over there, who didn't even explain that he had his soul. No, he just let her assume that he was evil and an evil watcher showed her more attention and actually tried to connect with her so of course she choose her side over yours same with the mayor." Slaming home the truth to the blonde slayer about her darker counter part leaving them all speechless.

Faith breaks the silence by turning to Shane and slamming her fist into her face which knocks her to the floor and gets into her face. "Don't ever condem Buffy and them again because I made my own decisions and taunted her into stabbing me. I wanted to die, why else would I shoot Angel with a poison I knew slayers blood could cure. The only reason I jumped off the roof was because I could see what just stabbing me had done to her and I gave them everyhting I knew could help them beat the Mayor. When I woke up I was just wanting it all to end so I just kept pushing and pushing but no one not even Weasley who I had bound and tortured would finish me so don't just don't talk about them like they are scum and I am so sorry for everything I have done and I will do everything to make it up to you." By the end Faiths anger had turned into remorse as she aplogised to the scoobys.

Everyone was startled by the laughing coming from Shane as stood back up to her feet. "Well that was the reaction I wanted for my speech. Yes Faith I goaded you into hitting me. I wanted to see if I was right about why Zues himself would tell me to train you and now I know why. See that planning, lolalty, and everything about you screams Athena whom I believe is your real mother and Zues' favorite daughter. Thats also why the fall and blood loss didn't kill you and you woke up just fine with very little after effcts. Anyway here you go Buffy, Our address and a way to reach me. Plus Faith didn't it feel good to get that all off your chest." Shane said to the stunned group as she handed buffy a slip of paper.


	2. Chapter 2

An: so I forgot to put this in the first chapter but I don't own anything and thank you for any review

Later that night, the Scoobies, Faith, and Shane were celebrating Tara's birth at the Bronze. It was a little uneasy between the main Scoobies and Faith, as they couldn't seem to trust her. The only reason she was even there was because Tara had been stubborn and not let Faith back out. Also allowing, Shane to meet Dawn, who seemed to look up to her younger sister, and they got along great.

When the gifts were being handed out, Faith had stepped up and handed Tara a package. "Um, here, I thought that I couldn't go wrong with this on the Hellmouth." She said as she handed her the present.

"Thank you, Faith, this was nice of you." Tara replied with a genuine smile as she saw a nice silver Celtic cross necklace. Faith smiled awkwardly and willow seemed to get upset at the sight but kept herself from making a scene.

Shane approached next with a small wrapped box "Here you go little sis, I made this to give to you some day when I got the courage to see you again and I figured now would be the best time. It's the symbol for Aphrodite, who is as you know the goddess of love, intertwined with the ancient Greek word for protection. I thought it fitted you as you have never hated but only loved, even those who didn't deserve it."

Tara looked up at her older sister with a loving smile and hugged her saying "That was so thoughtful. I really love this and did you really make this yourself?"

"Yeah, Father wanted me to learn how to forge weapons. He said that you can never trust a weapon not made by your own hands. I took his lessons and applied that to this." Shane replied honestly with a sense of pride at her sister's affection for her gift.

The party continued into the night and everyone seemed to have fun. Tara and Faith started to talk whenever Willow wasn't dragging Tara away from her. Shane walked up to Faith and told her to enjoy the night as tomorrow they would start their training, hearing this Faith suggested that she might want to invite Buffy as Buffy doesn't really have any strong people to face. She then walked over to Buffy, who seemed to be in a conversation with some uptight pansy in a turtle neck sweater. She interrupted their conversation with a quick word to Buffy "If you want some real training come over to our place and you can get a real workout."

She went to walk away when the pansy grabbed onto her arm and forced her to turn around. Riley was pissed as this girl insulted him in front of his own girlfriend. '_I'm enough of a workout for Buffy. She never complains about our fight when we train_.' "How dare you insult me in front of Buffy. She already has a good partner to train with." Riley yelled in Shane's face.

Shane stood there staring into his face with a smirk on hers. "Oh, really." She stated with a little chuckle in her voice. "You can give a Slayer a workout. I highly doubt it she probably holds back a ton and your too stupid to even notice." She said standing there still smirking at his enraged face, when her face turned dead serious and her voice colder than dry ice "If you ever touch me like that again and get into my face, you will be nothing more than a blood stain on my knuckles." She turned to Buffy who had remained silent due to shock at Riley's behavior and stated that she would see her tomorrow morning and she walked away from the couple to rejoin her sister and new friend.

Buffy rounded on Riley, after Shane was gone, with an upset face that made Riley cringe as he figured that she was going to yell at him so soon after apologizing for this afternoon. "What gives you the right to say who I train with or don't. She was only offering because she probably figured that I only had Giles to train with as he's my Watcher. She just got here today, so she didn't even know I boyfriend. I am going to train with them tomorrow as I want to see how strong she is. So now you can leave me alone for the rest of the night." With that she walked away from him.

The next morning, Buffy had gotten there later than she planed as she had to help her mom and make sure Dawn got off to school alright. They were down in a huge basement which seemed like it was just carved out of the earth itself but it was well equipped. Shane was teaching Faith some ways to control her emotions so she isn't so reckless all the time. While Faith was doing that, Shane granted Buffy's wish for sparring with the demi-god. Both of them took fighting stances and Buffy charged and aimed for a high kick which was quickly blocked by Shane. The blonde made a fake move for the legs and caught Shane with a right hook to the jaw. Shane pulled a leg sweep which Buffy dodged and Shane caught her with a back kick to the knees which nearly caused her to lose her footing regaining it at the last minute. Shane now had a shot at Buffy's rib which she landed causing Buffy to back up a bit. They both seemed to start to calculate how to go about fighting each other. This time, Shane dashed forward with a quick hit combo, once to the back of her knees the other to her ribs but Buffy caught a good hit to Shane's check and both hit the ground. Shane did a flip up to standing putting her right fist forward and using her left arm as her blocking arm. Buffy was struggling now to get up so Shane lowered her stance and said that they can resume later as she didn't want Buffy to really hurt herself in a sparring match. Buffy reluctantly agreed with Shane even though she would much rather continue fighting until she had beaten the cocky girl.

Shane turned to Faith and asked if she wanted a go as well, to which Faith agreed having been out of the game for a couple of months. She wanted to try to take Shane down only to prove to herself that she is still as strong as she always believed she was. Fighting with Faith was going to be much different than fighting with Buffy as Faith straight charged Shane hoping to not give her anytime to prepare. Faith landed a couple of shots to the chest and one to the face. She brought her leg up to land another shot to the face but Shane caught it and brought it under her armpit then grabbing Faith's leg with her other hand she brought Faith off the ground and slammed her back to the mat onto her stomach. Faith fueled by her anger broke from the hold and attacked wildly but really wasn't hitting Shane. Shane grabbed Faith into a full nelson and told her that if she didn't control herself than she will never get better. That being said Faith calmed and broke through the hold and launched Shane to the floor and Shane jumped back up and attacked landing a kick to faiths mid section before Faith blocked the elbow that was heading for her face. Faith and Shane stand apart when they decided that they were done for the day as Faith had finally got the lesson of the match.

"So why did you guys just stop?" Buffy asked confused as she had been watching the fight with great fascination. She was surprised when Faith answered her question with a smile "Cause B, I got the lesson of the fight and there was no need to go on and I thought I did pretty well against another demi-god." Buffy looked surprised at the information and turned to Shane to ask but was cut off when Shane answered before her. "Yeah, my Father is the God of war himself, Ares. He came to my mother, like Tara, was a great white witch and asked her to be the mother of his heir and she would be granted such a great gift for the side of good. She excepted, of course, and here I am and 4 years after me Tara came. So enough about me, did you figure out what I wanted you to learn?" Buffy just shook her head no and stared as Shane started her explanation. "Well I showed you a portion of my strength, so you can tell that I'm not like some of the other people who come into your life and can't hold their own without you having to worry. Faith's lesson was that you can do anything as long as your emotions don't overpower you. Use them to your advantage but don't let them rule you. Well that is all for today lets go eat lunch." Buffy followed the two demi-gods felling better about Shane being here and even understanding her a little bit. So with a smile on her face Buffy joined the two in their antics.

AN: Reviews tell me what you think and voice your opinions.


	3. Chapter 3

AN: Thanks for the reviews. Keep them coming and as usual I don't own BTVS and everything associated with it.

Later that night, Buffy was patrolling one of the vast cemeteries in Sunnydale. Buffy, Shane, and Faith had all decided after lunch that they would split up and cover the cemeteries then meet back up at the Bronze for a little post slaying fun, which Faith made a comment to Buffy about Beefstick helping her out with the double h's. Buffy blushed and said that it never happens, which had the two laughing and Shane telling Buffy that she better get another boy toy then. They proceeded to get back into training with Shane giving them helpful tips about their styles.

Buffy was brought out of her reminiscing by a group of five vampires that had surrounded her. One of the vampires must have just risen as he still had his tuxedo on but the rest looked like they were turned recently as well. These didn't look like the regular fashion disasters that Buffy usually had come across. "Well, look what we have here." Said a brown headed vampire with some khaki pants and a nice white button up, this is who Buffy figured was the leader. "Now aren't you a tasty looking thing and my friend here is really hungry." He said pointing to the newborn causing the other to snicker. Suddenly, one of the vampires in the back just turned to ash and Buffy looked shocked when she saw Shane standing there holding the stake with a confused expression. "What are you doing here? Wait, did I get lost cause this is embarrassing but I guess you can handle it then and she sat back against one of the nearby tombstones.

Buffy took the advantage of the vampires still shocked and staked the two closest to her which snapped the others out of their daze and proceeded to go after the Slayer. The blonde vampire swung his left fist which was blocked and Buffy landed a kick to his knees and elbowed the leader in the face with her available arm. The newborn got a shot to her back which made her stumble forward and into Shane. "I hate to say this but a little help might be needed." Buffy said as she turned around and ducked a punch from the leader and leg swept the newborn as Shane grabbed the blonde vampire into a full nelson and slammed him on top his head from over her back.

Buffy jumped back kicked the leader and gave a left hook to the newborn as soon as she landed. She dodged the right handed jab from the leader but got caught with the midsection hit from the left as she had dodged a knee from the newborn. She bent from the hit and got hit in the face which made her take a step back to clear her head. The newborn rushed her and tackled her to the ground but Buffy had gotten her stake up in time so when they landed the newborn turned to ash. The Slayer flipped up and immediately started a combo of punches and kicks to the leaders stomach and ribs. She finished with a left high kick to the face which he landed on the ground and was properly staked. Buffy glanced over at Shane to see how she was doing and couldn't help but be mesmerized at the sight.

The blonde vampire had gotten up and was hit with right jab to the ribs and a swift kick to the knees which caused him to fall again. Shane was smirking through the entire display as she was having fun playing with the vampire. She could feel and was fighting the need to completely humiliate the creature as Ares had always instructed her to do when an immensely weaker opponent tried to fight her. He stood back up and charged at the smirking girl enraged and tackled them both to the ground, snapping her back to reality. With the blonde on top, he got a punch to the face and missed the second swing with gave Shane a chance to head the man. She swiftly hit the vampire with a right hook to the jaw and him falling off of her. She stood up and pulled a stake from pant pocket and waited for him to get back up. The blonde stood up and charged missing with couple of punches and kicks before Shane got under an arm and staked him.

She turned to see Buffy just staring at her and took the liberty to check her out. Shane thought she looked good in her tan sweater and tight blue jeans with her long blonde curled. To stop staring at the slayer, she started to straight her leather jacket, which Buffy thought went well with her dark green shirt, cargo blue jeans and black boots. '_She really looks amazing with the way she fights and all that confidence. She just screams sexy. Wait what._' Buffy snapped out of her daze and blushed at that thought. "So are you ready to go to the Bronze? By the way, how did you even get this far off track you were across town?" She asked with a slight snicker as they started their walk to meet Faith.

"I told you it was embarrassing. I just got lost and followed my instincts which it's a good thing I did or else who knows might have happened. Well, you probably would have been more dirty and really late meeting me and Faith. Why do you think I didn't do much damage? I knew you could take those guys so I took one and left you the rest." Shane answered with honesty and seeing Buffy's expression, not what Buffy thought had happened. "So Buffy whose this boyfriend of your and why wasn't he at the party yesterday?" Shane asked with a curious face. Seeing the look was genuine, Buffy stopped and stared at the war child.

"You met him. The guy that got into your face, by the way, I'm sorry about that." Buffy said with a dumfounded expression at the beginning but ending with an apologetic one at the end. Shane just looked at her with the most neutral expression until she just couldn't hold the laugh in anymore and ended grabbing her stomach as she was bent in laughter. When she could breathe again and they started walking again, she turned to the short blonde and said, "I'm sorry. It just I didn't think you would date such a fucking pansy. I've seen kittens with more balls than that guy. Now just don't take offense to me insulting your boyfriend but no wonder your can be so uptight."

"Well sorry not all of us can be so kick ass like you can. I don't know why you think you're so special that you can come in and just insult people." Buffy stated stomping away and leaving Shane to stare after her. '_Oh great, I pissed her off. Well no surprise there but we were just starting to get past our first meeting. Ugh, guess I better apologize. Damn I hate doing that._' She thought as she ran to catch up t Buffy and cut her off. "Look, I'm sorry that I insulted your boyfriend but I just thought you deserve someone better than that but whatever. Also, I'm not so kick ass okay. Sure I can fight but other than that skills are limited." Shane said with as much sincerity that she could.

"Okay, fine but just watch what you say about Riley okay. He's a good guy." Buffy replied.

"Sure, I can do that now come on there's Faith." Shane told the blonde.

They were having fun dancing and just blowing off steam, when Tara seemed to startle Shane as she tapped her on the shoulder. "Hey, now what are you doing here and no escort? Where's the red head that seems attached to you. I really didn't get to talk to her last night?" Shane greeted and questioned her little sister. "No, Willow didn't want to go out to night but I didn't want to be inside all night so I came here as I figured one of you three would show up or at least a Scooby would." Tara said looking around the table and spent more time looking at Faith than the others which didn't escape Shane's notice. "Well that's cool. You are free to join us, as I could never deny you anything when we were kids and still can't. Do you want to help me get the drinks?" Shane asked at the end as a way of getting her sister alone. "Sure." They got a bit away from the table when Tara asked, "What did you want to ask me that you couldn't ask at the table?" Shane just kind of looked down and responded with, "Do you like Faith in a romantic sense cause it's okay if you do but I need to know?" Tara seemed shocked and looked down allowing her blonde hair to fall in front of her face. "M-m-m-m-maybe I-I-I-I do-do-don't," "Whoa calm down okay it's just me you don't have to be so upset." Shane interrupted feeling bad for causing her sister to stutter, which caused Tara to look at her and give her a thankful look.

"I really don't know what I feel for Faith. There's just something about her that makes me want to see her which is the real reason I had come to the Bronze tonight. They said she always came here to hook up." Tara explained feeling better about sharing this with Shane. They had paused to order a drink from the Hispanic looking girl behind the bar which Shane felt like flirting with as they got their drinks. Once they were on their way back, Shane stopped Tara with a simple sentence, "Just be careful with this triangle that has appeared cause I don't want anything to happen to you."

"Do you really think that Faith or Willow would hurt me?" Tara asked hesitantly. Shane stared Tara in the eyes so she would know that she was being truthful, "Faith might shut you out cause she is afraid of showing a lot of emotion. Willow, if she doesn't get control on the magic I think eventually she will hurt you with it. Now come on we got to get back to the table." They resumed walking and got back to the table to hear Faith complaining and asking them what took them so long. Shane replied with a smirk "I had a nice little chat with the bartender." This caused the table to laugh but Buffy's was a little strained. They enjoyed the rest of their night at the Bronze and ended with Faith volunteering to walk Tara back to her place which Tara accepted thinking it was a good way to get to know the other slayer better.


	4. Chapter 4

AN: Thank you for the reviews as they help me write out the chapters and nothing is mine as per usual

Tara and Faith were walking back from the Bronze; they looked like an odd pair with Faith in her usual leather pants and tight red t-shirt with a brown leather jacket and Tara with her long flowing skirt and nice blue button up. Tara was a little cold as the wind was blowing, Faith seeing her shiver took off her jacket and said with a smile "Here Tara, take this I don't need it." Tara just looked at it before ducking her head from the red hue covering her face and let faith put it on her. Faith was smiling as she put the jacket on Tara thinking that this was the best part of the night.

"Are you sure you don't need this it is pretty cold out here Faith?" Tara asked with a little uncertainty.

"It's fine Tara. I'm from Boston, we have days colder than this so don't worry about me. I don't just take my favorite jacket and give it to anyone so you're special." Faith replied with a smile and couldn't help but notice how cute Tara looked with her jacket on over the modest clothes that Tara had worn for the night.

"Do you miss Boston?" Tara asked wanting to start getting to know the young slayer/demi-god hybrid.

"No not really. I didn't really like it there and there are a lot of bad memories linked with that place." Faith replied with a sad look on her face. "But what about you, where are you from?"

"I'm sorry if I brought up some bad memories and I'm from a small town in Texas and no I wouldn't want to go back other than to see my mother's grave." Tara said to the slayer with an equally sad face.

"Sorry about that, but I'm sure she was a good person. She can't have been a bad person if you are as loving and forgiving as you are. I'm also sure she's proud of you, having told off your own family for what you thought was best." Faith told Tara if not to see her get that sad look off her face because it had pained her to see even a hint of sadness in those bright blue eyes.

"Thank you Faith, that really means a lot to me to hear you say that. So how is my big sister treating you and Buffy? I heard you had training this morning and afternoon." Tara asked with a curious expression.

"She's pretty cool actually and really knows her stuff. She was teaching us some valuable lessons, hell, even B was getting into it and I think your sister as well. How is it that she knows all this stuff?" Faith's response about her sister and Buffy startled Tara.

"Ares offered to train her when I was four so it was hard for me to see her leave because even though I knew I was young she had really made an impression in my memory. It hurt to see her leave but she said she had to although I don't think it was what she wanted, to leave our mother and me. The day she left she had such a burden on her shoulders and I guess my begging for her not to leave really made it hard for her to do that. I think that he had forced her to leave but she said that it was her choice when I confronted her about it the day she told us. It's good to have her back though, I really missed her especially after our mom died but a part of me was mad at her for not coming to the funeral." Tara responded with such hurt that faith had immediately wrapped her arms around her in comfort.

"I'm so sorry Tara but I'm sure she would have come to see you if she could have. I've seen the way she talks about you and she brought me all the way here when she was told you were in danger. Also the regret that she had about leaving so don't stay mad and maybe you guys should sit down and talk about this cause I think the only reasons she hasn't already is fear of rejection from you and your in danger so she wants to be at her best. You're the only thing in this world that matters to her." Faith said in defense of Shane and to make Tara know how important she really is to the older demi-god.

"Thank you so much Faith. I really needed to hear that." Tara said as she lifted her head but keeping the embrace. Staring into Faith's dark brown eyes, she couldn't help but hope that Shane was wrong about Faith and she could open up.

They were broken apart by a clearing of a throat. They turned to see who had interrupted them; Tara was surprised to find her very angry girlfriend standing there with her arms crossed as she glared at Faith. "Willow, What are you doing out here it's late? What if something happened to you?" Tara asked with a worried tone knowing Buffy would be devastated if anything happened to the red head.

"Well, I was thinking the same thing about you because it was really late and you weren't back yet. Now I find you here with her. What's going on Tara?" Willow rampaged.

"I was at the Bronze with my sister, Buffy, and Faith. It was getting late and Faith offered to walk me back. We started talking and I was feeling bad about a subject so Faith hugged me to try and comfort me. Do you really think I would do something like cheat on Willow? I thought you knew me better than that." Tara replied hurt by the accusation about her character by her own girlfriend. Faith angered at Willow ruining her time with Tara and hurting Tara in the process stated, "I was just walking her home so she doesn't get hurt, Red, or did you forget that this is a Hellmouth. So shut up. I can't believe that you would accuse Tara of trying something while she is with someone and you say you know her, ha. Well fuck you Willow and good night Tara." The end stated with some affection and Faith walked away before she put her fist into Willow's face for hurting Tara like that. Tara stared after Faith with something like longing as she walked away. She bowed her head when she realized she was still wearing Faith's jacket and discreetly smelled it to smell the sweet spicy smell that was all Faith.

Across town, Buffy and Shane were walking down towards Buffy's place. "So why exactly are you walking me home cause I can take care of myself?" Buffy asked curiously.

"I know that and I'm not escorting you back to your place I'm simply following a friend in the opposite direction of my place to have someone to talk to." Shane responded with a laugh.

"Oh really then why let Faith take Tara home when you could have gone with her to talk?" Buffy threw back.

"Tara seem to want Faith to take her back cause she wanted to get to know Faith and show her that she trusts her." The demi-god responded as she didn't want to tell her about Tara being attracted to Faith.

"Why do you trust her so easily, I mean, she was evil at one point and you just throw that out the window?" Buffy questioned hesitantly.

"Well she turned herself in and like I said to you, when we first met, she wasn't at fault for all her actions and she turned herself in and saved your ex from being turned into a crispy critter. Do you think that she would have stayed if she didn't want to and also the only thing she wants to do is prove that she is good now to you so why don't you let her have that chance?" Shane tried to get the slayer to give the younger girl a chance as it was so important to Faith and could help her get some of the weight off her shoulders.

"I'll think about it. She did a lot of damage but you do have a point and I can be civil to her for now at least. So why did you leave Tara, when you were younger, if you care about her so much?" Buffy asked missing the pained look at the mention of that and Shane quickly felt that self-hatred and anger come to the surface.

She paused and quickly said to the slayer with a deep growl to her voice, "It's none of your business about what I decide to do so back off." Shane then stormed away before she lost control of all her power which would have ended badly. That night, as Shane slept, a recurring nightmare and memory came back to her

***Shane's Dream/Flashback***

A 13 year old Shane was running through a long hallway with what looked like blood stains on the stone walls, there were pictures and stone figures of wars and famous soldiers throughout history. She knew she was bordering on being late for her training session and Ares would defenalty not like that. He would probably punish her for lateness. The reason she was late was because she had trouble finding her training clothes which consisted of a tight red sleeveless shirt with his symbol in the middle, black long shorts, basic tennis shoes and black fingerless gloves. Suddenly there was an object in her path, Shane tried to stop but failed to in time and crashed in to it and fell backwards. She moved her long brownish blonde hair from her face and immediately looked up at the handsome face of Apollo who stood there with a smile wearing a gold suit of armor with a blazing sun in the middle with his short dark brown hair combed neatly to his head. Shane quickly bowed at her superiour and apologized for her mistake.

"It's quite all right. I was looking for you anyway. Come with me I want to show you something." Apollo grabbed Shane so she really couldn't turn her down. He led her to a High ceiling room which had depictions of all the nations and different types of people on earth. In the center there was a pool of what looked like water and that was where he was leading her to. "You know this is how we view the world and I thought you might want to see your family, as you aren't really allowed to do so by Ares' rules but he doesn't have to know need to know about this." Shane smiled at the thought of even seeing her baby sister, Tara, for even a moment. She quickly looked inside and missed the sadistic grin on Apollo's face, as he knew what she would see.

The vision cleared and there was the house of the McClay. The simple looking two story house screamed to the world that there was nothing wrong, however the screams of pain that were coming from the inside sad anything but that. Shane quickly lost the smile she had and felt her anger nearly breaking out of control at the sight of a little blonde girl curled into a ball trying to escape the pain coming for the belt being whipped at any part on her body it could reach. The older man, his face was so red and enraged, was screaming something at the huddled blonde. Suddenly, a taller, older version of the blonde threw herself over the girl, taking the punishment for her, as she had done many times. Shane couldn't take anymore and ran out of there. She felt herself head straight to Ares and completely took him by surprise as she charged and hit the tall light brown haired god of war. She was fighting with so much rage that Ares could have sworn she was all god. Swinging randomly with no real tactic had him blocking or dodging the hits but when they did land they were putting dents in his light red armor. Finally having enough of this he grabbed her by the head and slammed her to the ground stunning her. He felt wetness on his hands and saw that there was water mixed with blood on his hands. Looking at her, Ares realised that Shane had started crying, "This is your fault I could have been there to save her. Damn it, I came with you and abandoned them and now they are getting beaten. You said I would put them in danger if I stayed well guess what you lied." Shane then proceeded to curl into a ball and cry, it was a horrible sight for Ares as he watched his favorite child cry and eventually lose conciseness. He took her to the infirmary and had her look after. He knew this would kill her and that she doesn't hate him but herself.

He could see so much of her mother in her and it bothered him because he truly liked her but it would have been impossible for them to be together but that's why he wanted at least a reminder of her. He decided to pay a visit to the bastard that dare cause this reaction from his girl and it didn't end very well for Apollo.

AN: Now don't kill me for the Faith/Tara interruption and I don't like cheaters. Plus I don't think Tara would either but it will get there.


	5. Chapter 5

AN: Thanks for reviews, they help how I write the chapters and I don't own BTVS. Sorry for the long wait. Had micro. word problems. Plus a friend of mine who has never been interested in BTVS before read this story and now wants to see it. Ha Ha Ha you've just been introduced into the best crack you can find.

So for the past few weeks, Buffy and Shane had barley talked or made eye contact. They only talked about slaying and training. Even though they were hardly speaking, Buffy thought that the best way to protect Dawn would be to continue training with Shane, as she was nearly the toughest person she faced.

Riley had been feeling abandoned the last few weeks. His girlfriend had cut almost all meetings between them. The former soldier had taken up getting bite by vampires to make himself feel better. His thinking that if he was stronger than Buffy would come back to him. What the frat boy failed to realize was that she had her plate full with protecting Dawn and taking care of her mother.

Faith and Tara seemed to be hanging out with each other a lot, which Willow was uneasy about. They were growing to be best friends and Faith had even taken to teaching Tara some defensive maneuvers, so she could join Faith on some patrols. Shane and Tara had yet to talk seriously about Shane's abandonment of Tara and their mother. It put things a little on edge with each other and Shane had gone on a rage through Sunnydale every night and not just taking out demons as nightmares had plagued her sleep.

It was a regular Tuesday night in Sunnydale as Buffy got ready to patrol. She was surprised when her mother burst into her room. "Buffy, Honey, I forgot to tell you but I need to run down to the gallery for a few hours so I need you to watch Dawn." She said with a regretful voice.

"What? Mom, I need to patrol. Faith is busy and, well, I don't know exactly what Shane is doing. Plus I can't take Dawn on patrol with me." Buffy argued back to her mother.

"Well Buffy, Why don't you ask one of your friends to watch her?" Joyce replied while finishing getting ready.

Dawn had stepped out of her room to throw in her two cents when Buffy shot her a look that said 'she was too young and it's too dangerous'. Dawn huffed and went back into her room, slamming the door along the way. Buffy walked back into her room deep in thought. '_It's not that I don't trust my friends but there is no way they can protect Dawn if she comes bursting through the door and I could really use the slay. These past weeks have been hard on me. I guess I can suck it up and call Shane. She is the only one I can think of that can last long enough to help Dawn escape and they did seem to hit it off at Tara's party._'

With a subdued expression, Buffy picked up the phone and dialed the demi-goddess of war. "McClay." Shane's voice came from the phone sending a shiver down Buffy's spine with its slightly out of breath voice.

"Um, Shane, It's Buffy. I know we haven't really been talking but I was hoping that you could watch Dawn while I went slaying cause my mom needs to run to the gallery." Buffy said hopeful that Shane won't turn her down and she could get in some real slaying.

"Well if it was a different situation, I would have said fuck you and left you hanging. However, I know that you are driving yourself crazy with taking care of your mom and little sister, so I'll be over in ten." Shane knowingly answered Buffy's prayers with her answer.

"Thank you so much for this, Shane." Buffy said with relief.

"No problem, but I will want to know why I have to do this when your best friends can't." Shane told the Slayer with a serious expression and tone as she hung up.

Buffy looked worried as only Giles and her knew that Dawn wasn't really her sister or that she wasn't even real, she was simply the key. Buffy knew that this new big bad wanted the key and that put dawn in danger and whether it was something the monks did to her when they altered everyone's memories or because Buffy truly loved her, she had to protect her even if that meant dieing in the process.

Buffy walked into the next room to inform Dawn who her babysitter for the night would be. "Hey Dawn, look, I know your old enough to be by yourself and if we were anyplace but Sunnydale and in a normal world then yes you could. However, we aren't and I need to know your safe so Shane is going to be here in a few to watch you." Buffy explained to the teenager.

"Alright, Buffy, and thanks it nice to know that you can trust me, if we were in an alternate dimension." Dawn said sarcastically while rolling her eyes.

Buffy was saved from reply by the door bell ringing. She started down the stair and stopped stunned by Shane's appreance. Shane had taken her leather jacket off for once and was wearing a dark green sleeveless shirt, where you can see a tattoo on her right arm with two long Greek sword crossing and a third short sword also of Greek design bisecting them and the letters ARIIS through the middle, and slightly baggy dark blue carpenter jeans. To Buffy, she looked down right sexy with that outfit and her brownish blonde hair tied back, and with that thought Buffy snapped out of her thought and walked the rest of the way down. She was listening to Shane introduce herself to her mother.

"Hi, Ms. Summers, I'm Shane McClay, Tara's older half-sister. It's a pleasure to meet you." Shane said with all the charm she could give.

"Well it's nice to meet you too." Joyce seemed flustered with Shane's charm.

Dawn ran down the stairs and actually pushed Buffy out of the way to greet Shane. "Hey, Shane, so what do we have planned for this evening? Oh and can you help me with my history homework, Tara said you were really good with Greek history?" Dawn asked all excited.

"Um, yeah, sure, plus we can watch TV after all that is done and and and I have no clue what else. Not really use to entertaining people also I have no clue what teenagers like these days." Shane replied with a little nervousness.

"Well at least you recognize me as a teenager and not some child." Dawn smiled at the unknown complement from the demi-god.

"Well I will see you girls later." Joyce said as she left to head to the gallery.

Buffy just stood there for a couple of minutes watching how well Shane and Dawn are getting along. Not even Riley got along this well with the youngest Summers. Eventually, Buffy just left without a word and a head full of thoughts. Watching the blonde slayer leave without saying a word had Shane wondering what was getting to the slayer so bad. She turned back to Dawn and told her that they should get started.

"So I need to do a paper on Sparta and as far as I know they are very good fighters." Dawn told the demi-god.

"They were the best military force in ancient Greece. In fact, they set their entire society to their military. Spartans were famous for their phalanxes and, of course, the battle of Thermopylae. It was a battle were 300 Spartans stood against wave after wave of Persians." Shane explained to the teenage key.

"So what did they do to get this great, I mean, It's got to be hard to have a military that great?" The littlest Summers asked.

"Well, when Spartan citizens, with some exceptions to outsiders, turned seven they entered what was called the Agoge. They were trained to withstand pain, to hunt, their military training, and social behavior. It lasted till they turned twenty-seven. It was a tough process and in it they learned that Sparta is what mattered above all else. These guys were referred to as 'the walls of Sparta' meaning that they were the defensive wall for the entire city. It was a great honor." Shane explained with a faraway look in her eyes.

Dawn noticing the look decided to ask Shane about it. "Did something like that happen with you?"

Shane chuckled as she nodded her head. "Yes, see, my father had always loved Sparta so when I was eight he offered me a chance at it and I accepted. It was almost exactly like this but mine only lasted ten years. He did the same thing you would find in the Agoge. It was hell most of the time but it helps for people like me. Though to most people, I seem as your sister says 'kickass' among other things." Shane paused and asked the teenager. "What else do you need to know?"

That's how it went for the next half hour; they had finished Dawn's paper and had ordered pizza for dinner. They were watching TV, when Shane looked over and saw Dawn asleep. Shane picked her up and took her upstairs to put her in her bed. Shane finished pulling up the covers when she heard the door shut down stairs. Shane went down and saw Buffy leaning against the wall in pain. She ran the rest of the way down to grab the slayer and lead her to the couch.

"What happened?" Shane asked worriedly.

"A vampire got me with my own stake. OUCH!" Buffy got out as Shane pulled her hand away to examine the wound. It was deep and bleeding profusely but one look at Buffy's face, Shane knew that suggesting the hospital was not going to be listened to.

"Alright where is your first aid kit?" Shane asked as she ran to the upstairs bathroom as Buffy told her. She ran back down and tore Buffy's shirt from her. Buffy started to blush at the action until the pain reminded her why Shane had really done that.

"Okay, we don't want Dawn to see you like this so you are going to bite down on this." Shane said as she offered Buffy a piece of her already ruined shirt. Buffy bit down on the shirt to stop the shout of pain. Shane proceeded to stop the blood, clean, and stitch the wound, trying to be as gentle as possible but a couple of times Buffy would yell in pain in the gag.

"There done. Look, I'm staying here and tomorrow, you will tell me what I want to know and also don't sleep on your front but you already knew that." Shane said as she helped the slayer up to her room. She turned around to let Buffy change into her sleepwear. She helped Buffy lie down and get her covers.

"Don't let this get to you. You have a lot on your mind so don't think it's more than that." Shane said as she went back down to lie on the couch. Joyce came home later than she thought and saw Shane asleep, she went on up thinking better than waking the demi-god and brought back a blanket to put over her. Joyce noticed the pain on Shane's face and felt sorry for the girl as she must have been in a nightmare and could only guess what it was about.

AN: Review please and again sorry for the wait. Also give me things you might want to see in the future and I will see about getting them in.


	6. Chapter 6

AN: This doesn't belong to me. Updates will be more regular again.

***Shane's Dream***

Shane dodged the punch coming at her face. She ducked and threw an uppercut into the chin of a well-built guy of about 6'5" with red hair. He went down on the ground completely knock-out. The Announcer stood center ring and raised her hand saying, "Your winner and new champ Warrior." The crowd erupted with cheers which didn't seem to phase the stoic look on the 21 year old demi-god.

She promptly left the ring and went into the back. She proceeded to get back into civilian clothing. Startled by a clearing of the throat behind her, Shane turned and came face to face with Ares, who had blended well with camo pants and a plain black t-shirt with a leather jacket thrown over it.

"Shane, it's good to see you. It's been three years on earth how is life treating you? Other than, you beating up strangers every night for profit." Ares said with a smirk.

"Its fine, Father. So what has encouraged the god of war off his throne and a trip to Earth?" Shane replied back sarcastically.

Ares' smirk fell off his face at the question. He knew what he had to tell her was going to crush her and increase that self-hatred she had carried for 8 years. Shane was shocked to see her dad turn his face to the ground but was blasted into numbness when he spoke next. "It's your mother, she died today. She had cancer for a long time and today it beat her." Ares said with such remorse.

"No no no, you're wrong. She can't be dead. She just can't. She…." Shane trailed as she feel down.

"I'm sorry Shane. I really am and if I could have cured her I would have but promise me one thing. I know this is hard especially since you never saw her after you left with me but whatever you do don't go to Hades. He is the god of the dead and doesn't have the power to revive her. Also she wouldn't have wanted to return not where she is at." He told the distraught girl and moved to hug her. Ares isn't one for affection but to see his favorite daughter had him hugging and trying to comfort her.

"When is the Funeral?" Shane asked as she wrestled her emotions for control.

"I don't know when but I know you won't be welcomed and this will cause you pain. Why did you never go back to see them?" Ares asked his oddly emotional daughter.

"Because I knew they wouldn't really ever forgive me. They are good people but I abandoned them to an abusive husband and father. How could they ever forgive me for that?" Shane finished yelling the question.

"I don't know but Tara could really use you now. Maybe you should head that way and see her. This has got to be hard on her too." Ares proposed.

"Maybe one day but I'm scarred and the last thing she needs is me to just pop into her life like nothing happened." Shane answered her father.

Shane felt herself shaking and tried to get away from it. In her efforts, she felt herself hit something hard and finally opened her eyes. She saw Buffy standing over her with a smile and a quiet laugh. That's when she noticed she had hit the floor and started chuckling too. Buffy went to offer her a hand but felt a streak of pain through her. Shane shot the injured slayer an appreciated smile as she got up herself. They sat next to each other on the couch trying to think of a way to start the hard conversation between them.

"What is going on Buffy? Why could none of your friends watch Dawn last night?" Shane asked to break the silence and getting straight to the point.

"When I tell you this, I am putting a lot of trust in you. Dawn isn't my real sister, in fact, she isn't really a person. She is what is known as the Key and now there is this really tough demon coming after her to use her. I wanted you here to protect her. I have no clue what will happen if the demon gets a hold of her but I **will not** let that happen." Buffy explained.

"I like your sister. She is pretty cool for a fourteen year old so you know I will protect her and not let anything happen to her. Also, I think you should tell Faith. She could be a big help and could watch her too and not to tell you how to do anything regarding your sister but maybe you should tell her and we could help her get over this faster than we would if she found out some other way." Shane said to the slayer in the best way possible for fear of pissing Buffy off again.

"I know that is the logical thing to do but I just want to protect her and have her enjoy her childhood without all this demon crap to upset her." Buffy replied to the demi-god hoping she would understand her need to protect her sister from the world.

"I get it, Buffy, I really do but there is no way for that to happen. You're the slayer and she's a mystical key, there is no way for her to live a normal life but what you can do is still protect her from falling into bad habits and just guide her to be a good person." Shane sympathized to Buffy. "Now, how did a vampire stab you with your own stake?"

"I don't know. I thought I had everything handled then suddenly it was like I lost it. I wonder if this is how other slayers have died. One ordinary night and vamp and suddenly next slayer called." Buffy said dejectedly.

"That's bull shit, Buffy. You have a lot on your mind. Your mom has been sick and now with what you told me about your sister, you are the best slayer that I have ever heard of. There is no reason to doubt yourself. Faith has told me a lot of what you have faced and you are like no other slayer, Buffy." Shane said honestly staring into Buffy's eyes to make sure the young blonde got the point.

"Thank you, Shane, but hey enough of this moody stuff. We need breakfast and then maybe you should look at my wound again." Buffy said to lighten the mood and to get away from Shane's stare as it did things that she didn't know how she felt about that.

They headed into the kitchen and Buffy having made a comment about not being a good cook, settled for cereal. They went upstairs to check out Buffy's wound. The slayer's healing had taken care of most of it but it was still bad. Just as Shane was finishing wrapping it up, Dawn came through the door without knocking and stopped at the sight of Buffy's wound. She was truly shocked that her sister had gotten hurt that bad as she was the toughest person she knew.

"Dawn, what have I told you about coming into my room without knocking." Buffy asked the littlest member of the house hypothetically knowing that Dawn just didn't listen every other time.

"How did you get hurt?" Dawn asked a little shaky at the thought.

"I'm a slayer Dawnie we get hurt too but we have a nice healing power so by tomorrow I will be good as new." Buffy said to calm the teenager down after seeing Dawn so upset.

"By the way, Buffy, I will take over patrolling for tonight so you could rest." Shane said off topic. "But I better go so I can change and other stuff. I will see you tomorrow, Buffy. Try and get so rest, also take it easy. Enjoy this time with your family." Shane kind of ordered as she stood up and walked out to head to her home.

Later that night, Shane was patrolling when she came across a vampire dressed in 80's fashion. She followed him to see where he would lead her. When he ended up leading her to his den, she sat back to see what the situation was like in there. She heard the vampire she had followed start talking bad about the slayer and Shane snapped. She busted the door down with a forceful kick sending it into another vampire in 80's dress. The rest charged straight at her, Shane ducked a punch from the left grabbing a large hunting knife from her belt holder. She immediately dispatched the vampire on her right with one swing, decapitating him. Shane jumped round kicked and took a hit to the gut from another. Feeling her anger increasing, she whipped her fist into the vampire that had got her with a hit; she hit his face sending him into the wall. Twirling the hunting knife, she turned to the one she had kicked and grabbed his arm holding him and plunging the knife into his neck and dusting him. Another charged and she moved to avoid and cut off the vampire's right leg and feeling her anger increase more as these maggots weren't the one she was after.

The others were starting to get scared and the only way out was through the girl. They looked at her with her hair whipping around as if blown by an invisible wind and her eyes reddening slightly. They were too scared to start an attack and Shane had tossed the knife away to reach at her back, bringing out a medium sized sword which looked custom made with the symbol for war at the meeting place between the blade and hilt. The hilt was a red and black mix with two small short swords crossing and the blade shooting up between with the rest of the hilt leading to a small sharp tip. The blade was doubled edged and was bright silver.

Shane reared the sword back and charged taking out two vamps to slow to move out of the way. The others seeing their opening ran away with their tails between their legs. Finishing off the one legged vampire she turned to the leader. Her temper reaching breaking point for this vampire to have hurt the blonde slayer. He tried to run but with a single throw she had the vampire pinned to the wall with the sword sticking out threw his chest. She got right into his face snarling at the now frightened vampire. Shane turned and picked up her hunting knife. She held his arm up on the wall and brought the knife straight through, as if it was a knife through hot butter, severing it. She proceeded to do this to all his body parts, laughing at his screams of pain. All that was left was the chest and head. Feeling her anger finally draining, Shane pulled the sword from his chest and swung it decapitating him before he even touched the ground.

Looking around at what she had done, Shane felt no remorse but guilty about the loss of control. She couldn't believe that she had done all that just over a couple of words about Buffy. It wasn't like her to just lose it over a few words. That was when it hit her and hit her hard it did. Shane had felt drawn to the blonde slayer and sure they had a few fights but Shane couldn't explain it. '_I'm in love with Buffy._' Shane thought, '_Oh FUCK._'

AN: now don't kill me and please as always review. I will be focusing on other characters more next chapter and maybe we will finally see Spike and Riley.


	7. Chapter 7

AN: I don't own BTVS. Like I said this chapter will focus on everyone but Shane and its set the same day as last chapter. Sorry if you want to see her but wait till next chapter.

Faith rolled out of bed at a knock at the door. She went down the stairs to see who it was. Shock spread across her face at the sight of the red haired Wiccan and the only competition for Tara. Willow didn't look happy at the sight of Faith. Faith sighed heavily and stepped aside to let Willow in. The red head walked right past Faith and waited until the door was closed to start in on her.

"You need to stay away from Tara. She's too polite to tell you this but she doesn't really like you." Willow lied to see if that will get the former rouge slayer to leave Tara alone.

"You're lying, Red. Most of the time we hang out, its Tara asking me to come along. So don't try to get me to leave her alone. I won't stop seeing her until she tells me herself, you selfish bitch." Faith argued back getting into Willow's face.

"Awe, that's sweet you think you have a chance with her but let me tell you, Faith. She is too good for you and loves me cause I'm her everything." Willow said with a smirk but it dropped at Faith's next words.

"If you weren't worried than why waste your time telling me to leave her alone and they call you a genius, but thank you for confirming that she may actually like me." Faith replied with a wide smile.

Willow's eyes went black at the thought of Faith getting her hands on Tara. Faith noticed the blacken eyes and felt a little nervous. She could take Willow any day in a fist fight but she didn't know what kind of magic she had gotten into after she went to the dark side and later reforming to good. She stepped back and opened the door while saying, "I think it's time to go. To answer you, I'm not going to stop seeing Tara. She is a great person and one of the best people I know. Of course I'm not good enough for her but that won't stop me from trying cause I think I'm a better choice then you. I want to be the best person I can for her."

Willow's face was staring at someone just past the door. Faith turned and saw the object of both girls' affections standing there with shock on her face. Faith immediately lowered her head as she had a feeling this wasn't going to be good for her. Tara had never heard such words from the demi-goddess of wisdom. She knew that she should talk to Faith but there was no way she could do this with Willow in the room. They had been drifting since Tara had formed a friendship with face and her worry of Willow's magic use.

"Willow, pl-pl-plea-please go b-b-b-back to-to th-the d-d-d-do-dormr-r-r-room." Tara stuttered severely as she let her long blonde hair cover her face.

Willow stared in distain at the dismissal but stomped out the door. Tara walked in and went to the right, into the living room. Faith followed dejectedly behind. She glanced around the room to stall the talk she knew was coming. Tara sat in the reclining chair across the room, which was Faith's favorite chair. She went and sat on the L shaped couch. She was just staring at the large blank TV. Tara made Faith turn her head by clearing her head.

"Is-is-is tha-that h-h-how you rea-really f-feel?" Tara asked when she had Faith's full attention.

"I do, but I know that you love Willow and I won't do anything to mess that up. All I can ask is that we remain friends." Faith said calmly hoping that it would calm the blonde down so she wasn't stuttering so much.

Tara took a deep breath knowing the brunette wasn't going to get mad at her. "Faith, I do love Willow and I could never reject you for feeling the way you do." Tara took another deep breath and continued. "But I do feel something for you too. I'm not sure of my feelings but they are strong. Can you give me time to figure them out?" Tara finished honestly.

"I will wait as long as it takes. Just knowing I have a shot is good enough." Faith said with a dimpled smile. "Now do you want to go someplace?"

"I wish I could but I need to talk to Willow. Could you walk me there?" Tara said with a remorseful look on her face.

"Definately and if it doesn't go well then you come back here." Faith said as they both stood to leave.

Across town, Willow was pacing around the room thinking. '_I can't believe the nerve of Faith. To say I'm not good for Tara is just ridiculous. She has got to be planning something, but why would she try to get to us through Tara. Maybe Shane told her to do it, I mean, she just walks back into Tara's life and we believe she is a good guy. There has to be a reason for Faith to say she was interested in Tara. She has to be doing it as a way to hurt me and to tear our gang apart._' Willow's thought proceeded like that until Tara walked into the room. Tara didn't like the way Willow was looking at her. Sucking in a deep breath and calming herself down, she looked right at Willow and began this long conversation.

"Willow. I can't believe you tried to get Faith to stop being friends with me. I'm allowed to have deferent friends from you and you are just going to have to accept that." Tara said to her girlfriend.

"But baby don't you see. She is going to hurt us; obviously she is using you to get to the rest of us. They are planning something, her and that sister of yours. Do you really thing that she just showed up after all this time cause she thought you were in danger." Willow relied with such certainty not noticing the angry look crossing the normally calm blonde's face.

"You will take that back right this instance. How dare you accuse them of evil when they have done nothing but help since they got here. Shane is my older sister, she would never intentionally hurt me or put me in danger, so you will not speak another bad word about her. Faith is a changed person and she is not going to turn against us again. You are my **girlfriend** you should trust me more than you are. I can't that you would accuse them of this. I can't deal with this right now but I will see you tomorrow when you have calmed down hopefully." Tara said as she walked out the without looking back.

At the Summers' house, Buffy was taking Shane's advice and resting to let her wound heal. Dawn had come in periodically to check and make sure that Buffy didn't need anything. At about noon, Riley came to see her and he flipped when he saw the wound on Buffy's stomach.

"How did this happen? See this is why you shouldn't have taken out the Inative. You wouldn't have to do this and we could be together normally." Riley said to the slayer.

"You still don't get it. This isn't a job, Riley. I'm a slayer and with Faith and Shane here I can stay alive longer and have backup." Buffy tried to explain to the former soldier.

"Yeah right, stay alive longer. What about last night? Where were they when you needed them?" He argued back.

"Faith had something she needed to do and Shane was watching Dawn for me as a favor." Buffy replied as she tried not to stress her wound too much.

"So you couldn't ask me to go with you? Buffy, before they came here all you needed was me to be your backup. How am I not good enough anymore, In fact, you haven't really talked or done anything with me since **Shane** showed up." Riley yelled making the slayer.

"Riley, I have had to deal with a lot to deal with that had nothing to anyone else except my family. I can't believe this. I..OUCH!" Buffy yelled at the end as she pulled her wound sitting up to yell at her boyfriend. She settled down and said in a much calmer voice, "Shane's doing patrol tonight and I would have told you to come over but after this I think you should just go."

"Fine. Whatever, I don't need this." Riley said and walked out.

Buffy sat back as Dawn came in after he was gone to check on her again. Dawn looked worried about her but didn't think to ask as she figured that Buffy wouldn't answer her. She turned to walk back out the door but was stopped by Buffy's voice.

"I'm sorry if you had to hear that. Come sit by me for a minute I want to talk to you." Buffy said to her sister.

"What is it Buffy?" Dawn asked sitting next to her sister.

"With mom's sickness, I wanted to know how you were doing and if you wanted to just talk?" Buffy asked her little sister.

"I'll be fine, Buffy. You don't have to worry about me, but I would like it if you didn't come home with like this again." Dawn answered half-truthfully.

"You know that I will always be here if you need to talk about anything. I'm your sister and I love you, Dawn." Buffy said looking into Dawn's eyes.

They continued to just talk to one another until there was a knock at the door which Dawn went down to answer. Spike walked into the room with his leather duster and cocky attitude. Buffy rolled her eyes at him and got out of bed not trusting him to not try something.

"Well hello, Love. How's the stab wound?" Spiked asked laying his English accent on thick.

"It's fine, Spike. Now you have your answer so leave me alone. This whole little stalker routine is wearing thin." Buffy said agitated at the blonde vampire.

"Awe now Slayer, if it weren't for me than this would be so much worse." He said as he touched the wound which caused two shouts of pain and Buffy to back hand the neutered vampire.

"Damn it, Spike, just go. All your doing is more harm. Your beneath me, Spike. Always have always will." Buffy said to him, to which, he got up in a huff and left.

Buffy went back to the bed and laid down again. She laid there deep in thought, '_This has been such a sucky day. Riley and Spike have just crushed any good this day has brought. I liked mine and Dawn's talk this afternoon. This affirms my dedication to keep that bitch from getting her hands on Dawn. Shane was so great this morning to let me get everything I needed to off my chest. I wonder what she was dreaming about that had her looking like she was in so much pain. I can't believe Riley, thinking that Shane had anything to do with me not being around lately. Sure, she has caused some feelings for me to question and she does look kind of sexy without even trying. Huh guess I do like her a lot but I have more worries than relationship issues._' With that, Buffy fell into a blissful sleep

AN: Now for those people who like Willow and think she is out of character, I just want to remind you that in the 5th season she never really had to compete for Tara's attention plus this was before Warren so she has no reason to see Faith's redemption action. So review good or bad I want to know. These help me write better.


	8. Chapter 8

AN: So I don't get sued for money I don't have, BTVS doesn't belong to me. This will start right after the ending of chap. 6.

Shane walked out of the den in a daze at her new found confession. She snapped out of it when a fist impacted with her jaw making her head turn. Staring at Riley in shock, she nearly missed the next left jab to the chin. Shane caught it and twists it behind him while forcing him to his knees. Shane paused to take a deep breath so she didn't lose her temper on a normal person. Riley's face was twisted in rage and despite his military training couldn't break the hold as Shane had enough force on him to keep him from doing that.

"What the fuck is your problem?" Shane asked confused with a hint of anger.

"You are. Buffy is injured because of you. If it weren't for you we would have been out last night and she wouldn't have gotten hurt." Riley answered trying to justify himself.

"That is not my fault, dumbass. I didn't tell her to go out but Buffy is her own person and she needed to slay and be alone for a while. She has a lot on her plate right now and all she wants is a little piece. Do you know how lucky you are? Buffy loves you and nearly tried to beat me for saying anything bad about you. I don't get why you are coming after me but get out of my sight." Shane let him up and started walking the other way and Riley stomped away. Her walk was interrupted by another voice breaking her stride.

"Well isn't this interesting. You have a thing for the Slayer and you set captain cardboard go to run to her. Now why would you do that?" Spike said walking around another mausoleum.

"Well unlike a certain neutered vampire all I want is for her to be happy." Shane said simply with a shrug of her shoulders walking away from the bleached blonde.

Shane, finally, returned to the demi-gods' residents. Walking through the door that leads directly into her room, she threw her leather jacket onto her desk chair and sat down on her twin bed. She looked at everything in the room from the small computer sitting on a full book shelf to the small TV sitting on her dresser. Shane started thinking over the events of the day. '_It has been such a long day. I snuck in and got out without anyone knowing I was here, Thank Zeus I got the room with the door or else I probably would've disturbed Faith. Buffy was so down on herself this morning, I can't believe that she would think that low of herself. I hope she took my advice and rested. She is such a strong person and looks so damn sexy especially when she is kicking vamp butt. I love her but there is no way I have a chance. I'm not good enough for her but I will go through hell for her even if it means my life._' Shane finished her thought and slipped into black boy shorts and a white tank top which showed the tattoo of an Artic wolf head just below the base of her neck. Putting her dog tags carefully on the dresser beside her bed, she slipped under the plain black covers and drifted to sleep.

**Shane's Dream**

Feeling the powerful fists hit her face again and again; all she could do was smirk at the blurry figure above her. Shane could barely make out any details but what she could make out was a feminine figure with blonde hair. It seems that smirking was only making her more pissed as she pulled her leg back and as hard as she could slam it into the ribs. Shane tried not to let the pain show on her face but it was getting harder and harder not to just scream. She heard a fuzzy noise which she guessed was her captor talking to her. The torturer caught eye level with the demi-god and said one final thing before an excruciating pain exploded from Shane's head, so bad she could hear herself scream.

Shane bolted up breathing heavily. She was twitchingly looking around and feeling herself for injuries, she began to calm down finally believing that nothing had actually happened. Knowing that she wouldn't be falling back asleep at that moment, she went out to the kitchen to make her and Faith some breakfast. She was making some pancakes and working over her dream but she didn't think she would get very far in that area. It had been very weird and not in focus. She couldn't even really make out the person torturing her. She was broken out of her thoughts by Faith's door opening and laughter following it. Faith and Tara stopped in shock while Shane stared in disbelief and a silence descended on the house hold.

"Faith, can I talk to you for a second over here?" Shane asked eerily calm while motioning her head to the hallway by the front door. Faith nodded and followed and nearly ran into Shane when she turned and said, "You got one chance to tell me what is going on between you and my little sister?"

"Look, you know my reputation but nothing happened. She and Willow got into a fight and needed some cheering up. My bed is way bigger than yours so there was no touching anything other than friendly." Faith answered nervously.

"Faith, you and I are a lot alike so I don't care about your past and I know how hard it is for people like us to open up. If you pursue a relationship with my sister, that is all I ask you to do. Be honest and treat her like a princess cause she deserves it." Shane says looking in Faith's eyes to make sure she gets the point.

"Don't worry, War Child, I want to be the one for her but I will not try to come between her and Willow's relationship. I want her to see the better side of me and come to me on her own. As for princess, I was thinking more along the lines of goddess." Faith said losing her nervousness at Shane's approval.

"Good, now, let's go back into the kitchen before Mama Bear thinks I killed you." Shane says with a little smile causing Faith to laugh as they walked into the kitchen to see Tara finishing the pancakes.

"Here you go guys." Tara said as she set stacks of them on plates.

They sat there joking and just having a good time. They were disturbed by the doorbell ringing. Shane walk over and pulled the door open the door and felt, to her, what must have been her heart stopping at the sight of Buffy in a dress that stop just before her knees and hugged her body nicely. Shane checked out the slayer until Buffy's hand waving in her face made her snapped out of it and move to the side to let the California native in. They returned to the kitchen and the other two looked at Buffy in confusion.

"Hey B, what are you doing here?" Faith asked to break the silence.

"Well, I was hoping that Shane would take the stitches out." Buffy said but with the looks on their face she knew that they didn't have any idea what she was talking about. "I was injured the other night on patrol." She explained.

"Oh yeah, I can do that but you realize that I will have to pull up your dress to get to them." Shane pointed out to the blonde who blushed.

"Oh, wow, okay, um do you want to go to your room to do this?" Buffy asked nervously.

"Yeah, let's do that come on follow me." Shane said actually getting nervous as she and Buffy got closer to her room. "Just sit down in that chair and pull your dress up."

Buffy did as Shane said feeling a little exposed at doing this. Shane had to focus everything on just getting the stitches taken out. An awkward silence fell upon them as Shane finally completed her task.

"There you go, Buffy. I'm done and your back to your ass kicking self." Shane said with a smile to try and break the silence which worked as Buffy was chuckling at her attempt.

"Okay lets go join Faith and Tara." Buffy said as they left the room, both not wanting to dwell on what just happened.

AN: Ha Ha Ha don't you just feel sorry for Shane. So good or bad tell me honestly. Review please.


	9. Chapter 9

AN: Thank you for all your reviews. Just a question but does anybody have trouble getting to the other chapters? Anyway I don't own BTVS but I **SO** wish I did. Some of the dialog might sound familiar but I don't know the exact words. Sorry it took so long.

Buffy walked into her mom's room that night. She was startled at the sight of her mom packing a bag.

"Hey mom, where are you going?" Buffy asked worryingly.

"Well, you know that nothing that's been bothering me for the past few weeks. It might not be nothing after all, so I'm going to the hospital for observation tonight and they want to do a CAT scan." Joyce confided in her oldest

After finishing talking to her mom about tomorrow, Buffy went out to sit on the porch to be alone and process. Buffy had put her head in her hands and tried hard not to break down. She felt that she had to be strong for her family and there was no way she could do that if she cracked now. Spike had slipped into the backyard through a gap in the fence carrying a shotgun. He was hoping that he had enough time to pull the trigger before the chip in his head went off. Spike's thought revolved around if Buffy was dead than the feelings would die too but he stopped when he saw the slayer look defeated.

"What's wrong, Love?" Spike asked sincerely.

"My mom is staying overnight at the hospital for observation. She's real sick." She didn't know why she told the bleached blonde that but it felt good to get that off her chest.

Hearing the slayer's word and his own feelings about Joyce, Spike put his arm around Buffy. Joyce had never looked at Spike like a monster. They had bonded over a period of time when spike would come to the house uninvited. She treated Spike like a regular person and he really liked her for it. Buffy didn't know why she was accepting Spike's comfort but knew that it was appreciated.

The next day, Buffy and Dawn were sitting in the Waiting Room of Sunnydale Memorial. They were sitting there uncomfortable and worrying about their mother. They could only imagine what the test will show. Both of them were shocked out of their discomfort when they saw Shane walking towards them. She was wearing plain blue jeans and a white t-shirt with her hair pulled back and leather jacket. Stopping in front of the girls, she looked down and sadly smiled.

"Shane, what are you doing here and how did you know we were here?" Buffy asked she stood up and hugged the demi-god.

"Giles told me and I was hoping there was something I could do." Shane answered returning the hug and pulling Dawn into one as well.

"Thank you so much and if you could just look after Dawn while I go to the exam room, that would be really helpful." Buffy said and waited for Shane to nod her head to go to see the results.

"Don't worry, Dawn. I'm sure that in the end everything would be fine." Shane said to the scared looking teen to reassure her.

Buffy returned with Riley in tow and informed them of Joyce going in for a biopsy to look at a shadow. Shane and Riley glared at each other through but not wanting to do anything that would upset the girl of their dreams. Shane, sitting next to Dawn, had draped her leather jacket over her to use as a blanket. Buffy looked on with a grateful expression for the older girl. Buffy thought she was lucky to have someone who would look after her sister while she tried to remain strong. Buffy noticed the time and got up to wake Dawn for school.

"Hey Shane," Buffy said as she reached down and shook Dawn awake, "Do you think you could take Dawn to school?"

"Yeah, sure, Buffy. Just do me a favor let me know if you need anything or if you hear anything?" Shane asked concerned.

"I will and thank you for this." Buffy answered.

Shane and Dawn walked out of the hospital and started on Dawn's way to school. Shane noticed how sad and distracted the littlest Summers looked. '_She is way too depressed to sit in a classroom for six hours. This isn't something a fourteen year old should go though. As much as I love Buffy, I don't think she should shut Dawn out like this or close herself off. I get the need to be strong for someone but this can't be healthy,_' Shane thought. She stopped suddenly which caused Dawn to turn and look at her with a questioning look.

"Dawn, do you really want to go to school with all this stuff going on?" Shane asked.

'No, I really don't but Buffy and Mom would get upset." Dawn replied.

Shane just shrugs and rhetorically asks, "What is youth without skipping school at least once?" She then states, "Though, I would say that you shouldn't really do this but now isn't a good time for you to sit in a classroom and be able to think about what could happen."

"You're really going to let me skip school." Dawn said with a bright smile.

"Only today." Shane reaffirmed.

Across town, the gang had gathered to research this new demon Buffy had faced. Faith had showed up and went to the back to train. Giles had finished a sentence, when he turned and came face to face with a pretty blonde with a high dollar dress and shoes. Faith walked out of the back as she felt something strange in the Magic Box. She couldn't tell who the feeling was coming from but it made her stand on edge. Looking around like a crazy person, she had caught Tara's attention.

"Faith, Is something wrong?" Tara asked with concern as she stood in front of Faith.

"I sense something is wrong but I can't sense who it is." Faith explained to the blonde witch.

"Do you think that the demon is here?" Tara asked while preparing her defense.

"I don't know. Nobody ever gave me or Shane for that matter a description." Faith replied and felt as the feeling vanished. "Well, It's gone now and I never got a clear look."

"What's going on over here? Faith, you look like you're ready to hurt someone." Giles interrupted at seeing Faith's disturbed face.

"I felt something off in the store, Watcherman." Faith explained a little bitterly at the accusation.

She turned around and went back to training. Faith just pounded at the bag with a fury. '_Why can't these people see that I'm not going to hurt them? I apologized for what I did and turned myself in. I stayed in jail cause I thought that would help them see that I was good again. I haven't done a damn thing to them since I got back. I mean, B kind of trust me again and Tara treats me like a real person not some ex-con,_' Faith thought as she punched again and again at the bag wanting to release all the anger she needed. Faith stopped when she heard a commotion from the front of the shop and rushed out thinking there was an attack.

"What's going on?" Faith demanded when she saw everything was fine except for the concerned looks on the Scoobies.

"Well, Giles here sold a Khul's amulet and a Sobekian Blood Stone to the new big bad. It's a very bad thing. She is probably going to transmogrify a snake for something." Anya said bluntly.

"Okay, then I will track her down and take care of it. Don't tell Buffy, she has other things to deal with." Faith said as she took off out the door.

Faith ran around town for a while trying to come across that feeling she had earlier. She finally felt it around the Zoo. Running directly to where they kept the snakes, Faith ran straight and tackled Glory with all she had. She threw a right hand jab to the face then hit a knee to the stomach. Faith threw another fist to the face and kicked at the knee. Faith knew that she couldn't let this women get any momentum and continued to throw moves to keep her busy. Eventually Glory got tired of this, she caught a fist and twisted it behind Faith's back.

"Dreg, I'm not hearing any chanting." The blonde yelled at her servant.

"Oh yes, Glory." Dreg responded to her as he went back to chanting.

Glory threw Faith into a wall which dazed her. While Faith struggled to get back up, a giant cobra emerged from the vase that it was housed in. Glory gave it instructions to seek out the key and it took off throwing Faith into the wall again. Glory and her minion took off while the slayer/demi-god hybrid struggled to stand up. Faith noticed they were gone and began her trek back to the Magic Box. '_so it's out there seeking a key. Well at least, we now know her name. She is really strong. I can't believe that she beat me without even really throwing a punch,_' Faith thought. She continued that train of thought all the way back to the Magic Box. As she walked in the door, Faith literally ran into Buffy leaving to help her.

"Faith, did you stop her and are you okay?" Buffy asked and then stated, "You look beat to hell."

"I didn't stop her and now there is a giant cobra out there looking for a key. I learned, though, that her name is Glory." Faith informed the group as she sat down.

"Well that should help with research." Giles tried to cheer up the beaten slayer.

"Look, B, why don't you just head on back to the hospital, take care of your mom, and leave things to me and Shane. We can handle this I swear." Faith said to Buffy with determination.

"I'm only going back for a little bit after mom wakes up but you're stuck with me on this." Buffy told Faith as she felt that she could finally do something.

Shane and Dawn were walking around town just letting Dawn enjoy her day off of school. They had gone by a merry-go-round that started the two on a talk about their respective childhoods. Shane felt bad when this had started as she knew that all of Dawn's earlier memories were fake. They were just walking through a shopping center when Dawn stopped and turned to Shane with a look of determination on her face.

"I want an honest answer from you." Dawn said and, when she got a nod from Shane, she asked, "Are you only watching out for me because you like my sister?"

"I guess I'm really transparent about my feelings but to answer your question no. I think you're a cool kid and you shouldn't be left alone right now." Shane said looking straight into her face to know what she said was honest.

"Thank you. So you really like my sister?" Dawn said teasingly.

"Ha ha ha, yeah. I do." Shane replied with a laugh.

"It's almost 4:30 maybe we should head to the Magic Box. That's usually where everybody is anyway." Dawn suggested.

The two entered the Magic Box and Shane noticed Faith looked a little worse for wear. After they were told what the situation was, Dawn sat down at the table to go over her previous day's homework and think over the situation they were in. Shane took Faith into the back and explained to her about Dawn, even if the blonde slayer got mad at her for this. Shane knew that Faith had proved herself and could be trusted with this. Faith was shocked to learn of Dawn's origins.

When Buffy returned that night, Dawn ran and hugged her sister. That's when Sobek had crashed through the window, immediately knocking Buffy away and headed straight for Dawn. She screamed with terror and the snake's eyes flash. It turned and slithered out and started its path back to Glory. Buffy and Shane took off after it while Giles headed to get his car. Faith stayed behind as protection for the key should the other two fail to reach the snake and Glory came after Dawn.

Giles pulled up to the other two and continued the chase in his car. Sobek cut through a park and Buffy jumped out to follow it with Shane seconds behind her. Buffy reached it first and with a chain that she had taken off a broken gate jumper on its back, trying to choke it out and eventually it fell. Thinking she had won, Buffy relaxed her grip and the giant cobra took the opportunity to dislodge the slayer. Shane ran in and stopped it from getting to far with a punch to the face. Buffy jumped in and assaulted the creature with slayer powered punches even after it had stopped moving. Shane moved and grabbed Buffy's arm pulling her into a hug. Buffy felt a little of her strength leave and cried on Shane's shoulder.

AN: okay sorry for the long wait. Please review and give me suggestion. There is another story I am working on if you want to read it and review that too. That is me begging.


	10. Chapter 10

AN: So you know I don't own BTVS. Sorry for the wait I am dealing with COD: Black Ops and Mass Effect. Both are very good games.

After the incident with Sobek, Faith and Shane had taken to going away to work on Faith's god half. Willow and Tara had taken to arguing as the days had past. Joyce had figured out about Dawn and Buffy agreed to tell her after her birthday which was coming up in a couple of days. Joyce had gone through with her surgery and come out healthy, even surviving the Queller attack the night before. Riley had been distancing himself from Buffy again feeling that he wasn't getting enough of her attention.

Faith and Shane sat down on the ground sweating from their sparring match. Shane was looking at the dense desert around them and thought back to her training with her father. She was brought out of her thoughts when her satellite phone went off.

"Buffy, what do need?" Shane answered knowingly as she only gave the number to the slayer.

"Giles is going over to England and when he gets back in week we are having a meeting at my place." Buffy said then hung up.

"Well that was odd. Think I did something wrong?" Shane turned to Faith, who looked at her like she was crazy.

"Really, she calls to tell you something important and you think you have pissed her off. How the fuck do you think you have done something wrong?" Faith questioned.

"She didn't even say goodbye or anything. Just said in a week we have a meeting at her house and hung up. Well time to get training, we have a week to get at ease with your god half." Shane said standing up.

"Wait we are actually going to be out here for a week. I thought it was just for a few days." Faith said surprised but standing up anyway.

"You didn't really think that it would only take a few days to train, did you? It takes years to actually master what I'm teaching you." Shane said with a chuckle in her voice.

Each got into their own fighting styles. Faith struck first with a swift kick to the shins and Shane countered with knee to the midsection. Striking with a left straight punch, Shane barely missed Faith's jaw. Faith threw her own right jab to Shane's stomach which was caught and draw behind her back. Faith countered by throwing an elbow into Shane's face but Shane didn't let go. Faith twisted outward and mid kicked catching Shane's ribs causing her to release Faith. Grasping her ribs, Shane kicked out hitting Faith's shoulder block. When Faith tried to hit Shane's ribs again with another jab, she was stopped by Shane hitting her jaw. Faith fell at the hit and kicked flipped up and caught Shane's cheek, making it bleed.

They were using their entire god like strength at every hit. They knew that they couldn't hold back with Glory and expect to be able to protect everyone. Shane knew that Faith needed to get the anger out of her system before she could completely start on working with the god inside her. Both of them were bloodied and bruised with all the hits they were taking. Eventually as the sun was going down, they were too tired to carry on and called it a draw. They treated the major injuries. Faith had wrapped Shane's ribs and put a band aid on her cheek. Shane had put Faith's shoulder back in place and butterfly bandaged a cut on her eyebrow and chin. After all that, Shane set to making them a dinner out of MREs.

"Wow, I don't think I have ever trained that hard before." Faith said amazed.

"I wish I could say the same but Aries did the same thing when I was younger. Needless to say, I got my ass handed to me every day. I liked the view though, at least when my eyes weren't swollen shut." Shane stated with a little smile.

"So, Aries abused you and you smile about it. That's fucked up." Faith replied with a scowl.

"I wouldn't say it was abuse but training. I had a chance to walk away but I would have been like you were. That's the reason why almost all gods take their kids to be trained. You can't believe how much trouble I got into with just 8 years on Earth." Shane explained.

"Does Athena not want to raise her kids or did she just not want me?" Faith asked the question she had wanted to know since she found out about her actual mother.

"Neither." Shane stated seriously before continuing, "From what I heard on Olympus and this was after it happened, Athena had thought your birth father was charming and a good guy. She had you down on Earth, as mortals can't enter Olympus. She was tired after the birth and in the middle of the night he took you. Athena was not happy and asked Aries to track this guy down. By the time Aries found the scumbag, he had hid you away somewhere he knew it could mask your power. They tortured him for a long time but by the time they got the location, that bitch had gone. Turns out, he thought Athena was rich and wanted her for the money but when he found out the truth, he wanted to use you as a weapon against the threats he was running from. If it makes you feel any better, that jack ass died slowly and painfully."

"Holy fuck." Faith said in shock.

"Yeah and hey maybe one day, we can get up to Olympus and see her. She is kind of cool. Dad made me study and meditate with her. Ha said I should be well rounded but that never worked out." Shane said to hopefully get Faith out of her shock.

"Do you think she would want to see me?" Faith asked hesitantly.

"I think she would she has been trying to find you since that night but I think your slayer powers are messing with your god side." Shane answered with a smile.

"So, how many tattoos do you actually have and why do you have them?" Faith asked in a change the subject kid of way.

"The one on my arm is from when I was eighteen and finished my training. I got the wolf on the base of my neck when I was thirteen and Aries had it done so it could help me keep in control. The last one I got and also the most recent is a Celtic cross over a Spartan shield with my mother's name across the top and Tara's on the bottom and that is over my heart. I got that one just after I found out about my mom's death and I had come out of my drunken stupor." Shane said.

"Why didn't you ever go back to Tara, if you care about her so much?" Faith asked bluntly.

"I thought that she hated me for what I had done and I needed to work out some of my issues. Then a messenger shows up, says Tara is in danger and I come running to her side. I guess that I can't get over that older sister protectiveness I have. That is the end of story time, I'm going to sleep. Oh and Faith, if you hurt Tara I will employ every torture technique I know. Good night." Shane finished with a devious smile on her face as she slipped into her tent.

AN: So please review to let me know what you think and if I need to do some stuff differently. Also please review my other story which will have a new chapter up later tonight, I hope. Like always give me some suggestions.


	11. Chapter 11

AN: Thanks for all your reviews. So BTVS doesn't belong to me. That's all now on with the story. By the way, if anybody didn't know what MREs are they are Meals Ready to Eat.

Walking into the Summers household, Faith and Shane looked freshly showered. They had gotten back late that afternoon and only had time to shower. Faith had improved greatly with sensing others. Shane had taught her some moves to help her fighting style. Shane had felt maybe something was upsetting Buffy, while Faith noticed the same thing with Tara. Both had decided that they will talk to them after the meeting. Buffy went to start the meeting when she was interrupted by Shane.

"Hey, where's Riley?" Buffy flinched at the question.

"He left while you were out training." Buffy answered simply.

'_Bastard._' Shane thought angrily

"Anyway, Giles, what did you find out from the council?" Buffy asked eagerly wanting information on Glory.

"Well, um, the Council is coming here." Giles said nervously knowing the gang wouldn't take it well.

"What! No. They can't come here. Bad things happen when they come here." As expected, Buffy flipped.

"So I take these aren't entirely good guys?" Shane asked having no clue who they were.

"Not really. They were set up to watch over the Slayer but they don't care if she lives or dies. They even have this test where they take away a slayer's power and have them fight a vampire." Buffy explained.

"Plus they didn't seem to care if any innocents got killed when their wet work team was shooting full auto in L.A." Faith added her two cents.

"Yes, but back to the point, They will be here maybe by tomorrow." Giles said.

The next day, Faith and Tara were sitting in the backroom of the Magic Box. Willow was in class and Tara was skipping to talk to Faith. Tara knew how Faith felt but she knew that Faith would listen to her problems. Faith knew that it had to be serious, whatever Tara had wanted to talk about, for Tara to skip school to talk.

"Faith, I'm worried about Willow. She has been doing a lot of magic and I think it might be getting control of her. She uses magic for everything. It's starting to scare me." Tara said with some fear in her voice.

"Tara, be honest, has she used magic on you?" Faith said with barely contained rage.

"No, but she isn't listening to me about taking it slow." Tara explained hoping that Faith's anger would dissipate some.

"I don't know what to say. I think you have to ask yourself if you would leave if she doesn't get it under control." Faith stated with caution.

Tara opened her mouth to answer but was interrupted by a commotion from the front. They rushed out and saw three guys and one girl patronizing Giles. They were all wearing tweed suites and their attitude screamed that they were better than everyone. Both of them knew that these had to be he people from the Council. The oldest one looked over at the duo coming out of the back. He looked taken back at the sight of Faith and also a bit frightened.

"Giles, you want to introduce the other tweed heads?" Faith asked not trying to mask the insult.

"You would do well to mind your elders or you will find yourself back in jail." The oldest said to try and threaten the once rouge slayer.

"Try it. I got bigger guns on my side." Faith said with her trademark smirk feeling very confidant.

By this time, Shane and Buffy had walked in. They were finishing talking about Riley and all that the soldier's leaving had done to Buffy. Both noticed the tense atmosphere and Shane figured that these were the Council goons. Buffy had tensed too as she didn't trust them not to do anything especially when she spotted Travers.

"Um, yes, well this is Travers and some of his people." Giles nervously said.

"We are here to evaluate you, Buffy, and talk to your friends before we give you the information." Travers said feeling he had the upper hand.

Travers had a smug smile at Buffy's lack of confidence. Unfortunately for him, Shane growing up with a war god for a father had never liked when information, especially when it was a life or death situation, was held back. So she did exactly what came natural to her when she was angry, Shane grabbed Travers' tie and slammed his face into a table. She was holding him there with her right arm across the back of his neck and she kicked the watcher that rushed her over the counter. The others were too scared to actually do anything and Travers was helpless to the hold.

"Now, you are going to tell us everything or I'll break every bone in your body." The war demi-god seethed in his ear.

"Get off me, you animal." The head of the Watcher's Council ground out.

"If this is the way you want to do it." Shane said as she grabbed at his index finger.

"Shane! Stop this is not the way to go." Buffy said being the first of the gang to come out of their shock.

Shane stayed like that for a moment but eventually let him go. Taking a deep breath to calm her rage, she returned to Buffy's side. Anya had checked on the Watcher, that had been kicked over the counter, and helped him get back to his feet. Tara looked a little freaked out about the whole exchange. Faith was smirking at the head Watcher. Giles had taken to subtly smirking too. The Watchers had all looked at Shane like she was a demon and one even went as far to hold a cross in her face. Faith and Shane couldn't hold in their laughter at that and both ended up clutching their sides.

"What is this? You associate with murders and demons. What kind of Slayer are you, Miss Summers?" Travers yelled trying to regain some of his dignity which ended the laughter but pissed off the two demi-gods.

"I'm not a demon but you will get us all the information on Glory. If by tonight, it's not here then I will finish what I was about to start and Buffy won't stop me. Don't think an Ocean will stop me." Shane said with a clear threat in her voice.

Buffy had left to go home and check on her family. After Shane's threat, the Watchers had left to, hopefully, gather the information. Buffy had thought back to what just happened, '_Shane looked so scary. I know she will go through with her plans if they don't give us the information. The most upsetting thing is that I almost didn't stop her. If her way gets us information faster, then I can't fault her. I want to keep Dawn safe and the only way to do that would be to get as much info on Glory as we can._'

Buffy was broken out of her thoughts when she walked into the living room. There sitting calmly in a chair was Glory. Buffy's immediately went into slayer mode thinking of her family. Glory started going on about how she wants Buffy to give her the Key. Buffy's attention was drawn to the doorway behind Glory, when she spotted Dawn. She tried to make sure that glory focused on her and make subtle movement towards the fireplace to grab a poker. Glory had turned her attention to Dawn and Buffy stepped up her attempt to grab the poker.

"Your sister stole my Key. Have you seen it? Touch it, Blondie, and little sis is dead." Glory said without turning around and her threat made Buffy stop and she continued this time facing Buffy, "I'll kill your family and your friends if I don't get my key. Next time we meet someone you love dies."

Glory left shortly after that. Buffy was walking to the Magic Box and she was running late. After what happened at her house, she had some thinking to do. She was startled when out of seemingly nowhere when five men all in medieval armor caring swords. Buffy dodged one running at her and threw him into a guy behind her. Another brought his sword in a downward slash that she caught and ripped it out of his hands and kicked him in the stomach. One went to charge but was turned and struck with a fist. Buffy saw Shane and felt better about her odds. She got caught in a duel with two of the crusade like warriors. She was in a stale mate with both swords pointing towards the ground to which she slide it upwards and struck him in the chest than a fist to the face knocking him out. The next one kicked in the leg tripping him and kneeing his head to knock him out.

The last two had attacked Shane. She pulled her own custom sword from her back. She got into a stale mate with one and ended up inches from his face. With a quick decision, she head butted the armored man. They both stumbled back and the other attempted to stab her in her confused state. Buffy kicked him in the knees and held a sword to his throat. Shane finished the last guy with a kick to the stomach and a kick to the back of his neck.

"Now, let's see what you are." Buffy said as she pulled the helmet off and was floor when she saw he was human.

"Why did you attack?" Shane asked unaffected of his race.

"The key is the link. The link must be severed." He said over and over until Shane just hit him to shut him up.

"How did you know I was here?" Buffy asked as she turned.

"Just felt like this was the place I needed to be." Shane answered simply as they walked into the Magic Box.

"So are you ready to give up that information on Glory?" Buffy asked when she saw the delegation from the council.

"Despite earlier threats, I'm not sure if you can properly deal with Glory." Travers said feeling more confident than he really was.

"Really, how about I start at your fingers and work my way from there." Shane stated advancing on him.

"Shane, wait a few more moments. He just upset that the only real people with power don't work for him. You see, he has got this information but he just wants us to beg for it. Glory stopped by the house today. She only came to talk and no one got hurt. I realized then that we have the power. You want to come over here and demand us to do what you want. At any moment, I could get that info by force and I'm sure Shane and Faith would be happy to give your men the ass kicking they deserve. So what you are going to do is give me the info and get your asses back to England." Buffy demanded at the end.

"Nice speech but what I have isn't anything you would expect." Travers then continued with, "Glory is a god." Shocking every one of the gang except one.

"Sweet! Things just got a whole lot better." Shane exclaimed with genuine excitement leaving everybody thinking.

'_**She really is insane.**_'

AN: So review and tell me what you think and any suggestions.


	12. Chapter 12

AN: Thanks for the reviews and BTVS doesn't belong to me but all of you know that already. So let me get to the story for that is what you clicked here for.

It was a couple days later when Buffy and Joyce decided to sit down with Dawn and tell her the truth of her origins. They thought it would be best if they told her before she found out some other way. Dawn was worried over what it was that her mom and sister would want to talk to her about. She was hoping that her mom was still okay and nothing had gone wrong suddenly from her brain surgery.

"What is it that you guys want to talk to me about?" Dawn asked showing the worry on her face.

"Now, Dawn, what me and mom have to tell you; it doesn't change how we feel about you." Buffy said to try and ease into the conversation.

"Why? What's wrong? What are you guys not telling me?" Dawn kept asking while freaking out.

"Dawn, calm down it's nothing bad." Joyce tried to reassure her daughter.

"You know when that lady came to the house and asked if I had her key?" Buffy asked to get the explanation started.

"Yeah, what does that have to do with this?" Dawn replied.

"You are the key, Dawn." Buffy said bluntly, sending Dawn into a hysterical state.

"What do you mean that I'm the key? I can't be. That would mean I'm not real but no no I'm real. I have memories and and feelings." Dawn stated not believing what was happening.

"Dawn, you are real. You are human and we love you very much." Joyce tried to comfort Dawn.

"There was this order of monks and they were being hunted for the key. They sent you to us as a way to get you away from Glory. They made you my sister and they put these memories in all of us. They sent you here for me to protect. Let me tell you something right now, Dawn. I am your sister and nothing will happen to you as long as I breathe. They made you out of me and that means that no matter what you are, you are a Summers and my sister." Buffy said taking Dawn's hands and looking her in the eye so she could see the conviction there.

"Am I evil? What do I do?" Dawn asked worriedly.

"No, Dawn, you are not evil. I don't know what the key does but I will get everyone looking it up." Buffy said to reassure her little sister.

Joyce just pulled her youngest into her arms in a way to keep her calm. Buffy thought Dawn was taking this a little too well and was waiting for when she would majorly freak out. Dawn was wondering if everything that was happening in Sunnydale was her fault. Everyone was brought out of their thoughts when there was a knock on the door. Buffy told her mom and Dawn to stay where they were while she went to answer it. Tara stood on the other side nervously and seeing the tension in the slayer thought she had come at a bad time.

"Tara, what are you doing here?" Buffy asked confused.

"I wanted to talk to you and it looks like I came at a bad time so I will go now. I'm sorry to interrupt." Tara replied apologetically.

"No, that's okay we were done. Please we can talk in my room." Buffy said not wanting to turn Tara away as it could be important.

Buffy and Tara went up to her room. Dawn and Joyce had left the living room; Dawn going to her room while Joyce started to do some things around the house. Buffy and Tara sat silently and kind of awkwardly. Buffy was wondering what the other blonde wanted to talk about. Tara was wondering where to start and was also a little nervous. She had never really had a conversation with the slayer with no one else present.

"I'm worried about Willow." Tara said bluntly to get it out there.

"What's wrong with Will?" Buffy asked afraid that the red head had been hurt.

"She is using too much magic and I'm afraid that she will go overboard with it. It is starting to scare me and she won't listen to my concerns. I came over here hoping that if you talk to her she would listen." Tara explained.

"I could try. Are you sure that she could go off the deep end with it? I mean Willow doesn't really scream out of control." Buffy asked hoping that the blonde Wicca would be wrong.

"Yes, I'm sure. There have been a lot of sensible wiccans start on magic and get in over their heads with power and dark magic." Tara answered with certainty.

"Alright then we will talk to her about it after my birthday." Buffy said to ease the worry that Tara was showing in eyes.

"Thank you, Buffy." Tara replied with a sigh of relief in her voice and got up to go.

"No problem. Willow is my best friend and this sounds like it could get bad." the slayer said taking Tara to the door.

Couple weeks later, the entire gang had gathered for Buffy's birthday. Buffy and Giles told those that didn't know, in the gang, about Dawn being the key. The others had tried to act normal around her but some of them weren't doing very well in that area. Dawn's gift to Buffy brought a bright smile to the slayer's face and touched everyone in the room. The others had gotten her the standard slayer items but Shane's gift to Buffy seemed be really out of place. Shane had made the blonde a choker like necklace with a thin black leather strap and the symbol of Ares in a blood red colored medal.

"It so if anything was to happen to me, you would have the full protection of Ares, himself." Shane said looking down at her feet a little embarrassed and walked out into the back yard for some fresh air.

She saw Spike walking up to the house and was annoyed that he even brought a gift. Shane didn't see the appeal of the blonde vampire but she knew that Buffy didn't stake him because he couldn't hurt anybody. Spike saw the demi-god standing on the porch and could only smirk. He saw her as a small threat to him getting Buffy but he was sure that he had a better chance than her.

"Hello, there. What are you doing out here instead of inside trying to get cozy with the slayer now that Captain Cardboard is gone?" Spike asked with disinterest.

"Just making sure there aren't any dumbasses ruining this day for Buffy." Shane quipped.

"Now, now, I'm sure the slayer wouldn't mind me after all I did help her find out what the old soldier was hiding from her." Spike replied feeling proud of himself.

"Oh, yeah cause that was an entirely fucking selfless act on your part. I'm sure she was just so thankful that you ruined her relationship." Shane sarcastically told the neutered vampire.

"That's because you don't have the balls to fight for her." Spike said with a smirk.

Shane took a deep breath and grabbed the vampire by his jacket. She bent his back over the railing and stabbed a hunting knife where his heart was located. Spike's face was twisted in pain and was happy that it wasn't a stake. Shane was staring him straight in the eyes while she turned her knife.

"Don't ever doubt what I would do for Buffy. Even if she never returns my feelings, I will never let you get your hands on her." She snarled into his face.

Shane pulled her knife from his heart and flipped him over the railing before turning and walking back into the house. She stopped when she saw Faith standing there. Faith just nodded her head in acceptance. She knew that Shane liked the blonde slayer and didn't really like Spike's attitude most times. Shane took her jacket off that had gotten Spike's blood on it and didn't need any questions about it.

It was after the party, when Tara and Buffy pulled Willow aside to talk. Tara was nervous about Willow's reaction to bringing her best friend in on their problems.

"Willow, Tara told me that you have started using magic for almost everything and is worried about you getting addicted." Buffy said gently.

"What? Tara, why did you bring Buffy into this? This is our life. She doesn't need to know about it." Willow snapped at her girlfriend.

"Willow, please, you are using too much magic and I'm worried about what will happen to you." Tara told the red head nervously.

"You are the only one who thinks this. The others haven't said anything about my magic use. Besides how would you know if I use magic for everything? Half the time you are with that psycho bitch." Willow commented.

"Willow, you need to calm down. I don't think Tara would come to me if her concern wasn't genuine." Buffy said hoping to calm her best friend.

"Buffy. I am not addicted to magic. I'm not using a lot of it either. I'm sorry that you were brought into this, especially since you have Glory to worry about. Me and Tara can deal with this, ourselves. Don't worry." Willow said in a convincing tone as she walked away from the two.

Buffy and Tara just looked at each other with worried for Willow. The red head's tone hadn't settled their worry.

AN: okay so review and tell me what you think. It might seem like Spike is a little out of character but he was trying to do to Shane what he did to Riley. I don't know what else to say but thank you to all that read my stories.


	13. Chapter 13

AN:** "Better to write for oneself and have no public than to write for the public and have no self." **Got it off an episode of Criminal Minds and I don't know exactly who said it but it does have a meaning. The reason is that I don't know if anybody is still reading this but I will complete both of them. So enjoy if you are still reading and here you go. BTVS doesn't belong to me.

Shane and Buffy were walking back to Buffy's house on a nice spring day. They were discussing what happened with the latest adventure. A nerd named Warren had built himself a robot girlfriend and then abandoned her for his real life girlfriend, which nearly resulted in her death. They had just finished dropping her at Warren's parents door step. Buffy had talked about how happy her mom seems. Buffy opened the door laughing at seeing the flowers that had been given to Joyce.

"Hey, flower getting lady, you home?" Buffy asked yelling up the stairs. Not hearing an answer, she continued. "Mom, Mom."

"Buffy!" Shane yelled from the living room.

Buffy walked in to see her mother lying down on the couch. She didn't appear to be moving or responding to Shane as she checked for a pulse. Shane hung her head not finding a pulse and the lowered temperature she felt from the skin. Buffy looked frozen and Shane quickly went to her. Buffy could see her mouth moving but was having trouble making out the words.

"Buffy! Buffy call an ambulance. It will all be okay. Just trust me and call a fucking ambulance." Shane said as she ran to Buffy's room and shut the door while Buffy proceeded to call an ambulance.

Shane stood stock still with her eyes shut and a concentrated look on her face. When she opened them, she saw the dark red sky and charcoaled ground of the underworld. Seeing her destination a head in the form of a castle in the gothic persuasion, she ran as fast as she could. She was fighting against the ever life sucking aura of the underworld. Out of nowhere, a large three-headed black dog was growling in her face. One of the heads barreled down to swallow her whole but was stopped by a rocky voice.

"Cerberus, now that is no way to treat a guest of this importance." Said a man; with long shaggy black hair and a nice looking red and black suit.

"Hades, I have come to bargain for a soul recently collected from Sunnydale. It would have been unsettled when it came down." Shane said trying to remain neutral.

"Ah and why should I let this soul go free?" Hades asked with a smirk.

"It's unsettled and you always have more souls." She stated.

"What would I get from our little bargain?" Hades asked wanting to know everything in this deal.

"You get my soul. That's how this works right? A soul for a soul." Shane replied sticking her hand out for him to confirm the deal.

Hades walked around appraising the young demi-god in front of him. Shane was nervous that Hades would refuse. '_Buffy and Dawn need their mom. Even if I have to give up my life, Buffy will be happy. I can rest easy knowing this,_' Shane thought as she fought to stand on her own feet. Hades could sense her commitment to dying in the place of someone else but he knew that she was harboring a bunch of self-hatred that could be influencing her decision.

"I don't like those conditions but I will release the soul, only if you collect a soul for me by the end of the summer." Hades said as he shook her hand.

Clicking his fingers, a pool appears at the opening. It flowed like a river and had a transparent green look to it. Shane knew what he wanted her to do and wasted no time jumping in and swimming towards Joyce's quickly moving soul. The feeling of her life draining grew stronger within the pool and a couple of years ago she wouldn't have survived as long as she has. She had finally caught up to the soul of the oldest Summers and grabbed a hold of it with her right hand, while her left grabbed the edge. She hoisted herself up never letting go and got outside the castle as fast as she could. Once outside, she let go of the soul and appeared back in Buffy's room.

Downstairs, the eyes of Joyce Summers flickered to life and she gasped for air. The paramedics were stunned and quickly loaded her on a gurney and speed her to the ambulance. Buffy was shocked at the sight of her mother alive. Buffy went with the ambulance, forgetting about Shane with her mother's miraculous recovery. Back at the Summers' house, Shane collapse to the floor from exhaustion and was unconscious before her head hit the floor. Dawn walked into house surprised not to hear any noise. She was calling out to her mother and sister. She entered Buffy's room and gasped at the sight of Shane on the floor. She ran forward and checked for a pulse and let out a sigh of relief at finding one.

"Shane, Shane, come on wake up." Dawn said shaking her.

"Ugh. What? How long was I out?" Shane questioned as she looked around and holding her pounding head.

"I don't know. What happened? Were you attacked? What happened to my mom and Buffy?" Dawn asked freaking out which was making Shane's headache worse

"Shit! Come on, we need to get to the hospital. Your mom had an accident and that's where Buffy is." Shane explained as she struggled to stand.

They made it to the front door before Shane was again exhausted and felt like she couldn't move. Dawn was worried and settled for calling Giles and asking him to come get them. A few minutes, Giles burst into the house with worry clearly on his face. Seeing the condition Shane was in, he assumed the worst and started questioning her. Shane felt like her whole body was on fire which Giles was not helping by shaking her.

"Giles, we need to get to the hospital. My mom is there and I think Shane could use some medical attention." Dawn said to the worried watcher.

"They wouldn't find anything wrong with me but your right; we need to check on Joyce." Shane stated as she stood up again.

"Um, yes, alright lets go. Dawn, would you call the other and tell them to meet us there while I help Shane?" Giles asked as he took Shane's arm which she reluctantly allowed.

The gang gathered in the waiting room and some had hugged to try and comfort each other. Buffy came out to talk to the group and get Dawn so she could see their mother. Seeing Shane, Buffy ran and threw her arms around her in a slayer sized hug and cried her thanks into her shoulder. The demi-god was hurting from the hug but wouldn't let it show. Everyone was confused at the display and when Buffy pulled Dawn to their mother, they turned to her with questioning expressions.

"Why is Buffy thanking you?" Xander asked confused.

"It's nothing. Leave it alone and be happy that no one died today." Shane stated with finality.

AN: So tell me what you think if you are still reading and if you have any question ask them and I will try to answer if not in an Author's note than in the story itself.


	14. Chapter 14

AN: Thank you for all your reviews. I'm happy to see that and so I will get to the story. BTVS doesn't belong to me.

A couple days later, Joyce was released from the hospital. She was checked over and examined closely as they hoped that no more complications would come up again. The entire hospital had truly started to believe after hearing about her miraculous revival. Buffy thought that she was truly thankful for whatever Shane did but was also worried exactly what she had to do. Buffy headed that way to get some answers from whether she liked them or not.

Shane wasn't up to her normal self again. She had recovered enough that she could walk around without getting winded. She decided to start working on getting her strength up again. That is why she was in the basement, with standard mixed martial arts gloves, pounding on a hanging punching bag. She kept punching ignoring the burn she felt in her arms. Shane was trying to release some of the anger she felt at being in her weakened state. The light brown haired demi-god didn't hear the footsteps coming down into the basement nor Buffy gasping at the sight of Shane's sweat soaked black tank top, which she thought matched well with the dark blue basketball shorts.

"Shane!" snapping around her around at the disturbance, Shane was surprised to see Buffy standing there.

"You didn't have to yell." Shane said as she took a towel and wiped her head, missing Buffy's expression.

"Yeah, I did. You didn't hear the first five times I said it. What had you so distracted?" Buffy wondered.

"Nothing really. Just working though some stuff." Shane stated in a 'don't ask questions' tone of voice.

"Why don't we talk about it? I could help you." Buffy said with concern for the older girl.

"You can't help me, Buffy. Now I'm sure you didn't come here for this when you have your mom nice and comfy at home." She answered in avoidance.

"I wanted to know what you did to help my mom." Buffy replied.

"Don't worry about it. She is alive and well, that is all that matters." Shane stated through her teeth.

"What is going on with you? Ever since you brought my mom back to life, you have been acting weird. This isn't like you. Dawn told me she found you past out on the floor of my room." Buffy spoke her concerns for the demi-god, which just angered Shane more.

"I'M FINE! I don't need you trying to figure me out. You need to focus your attention on your family and defeating Glory." Shane snarled feeling her anger getting the best of her.

"FINE! I'm sorry I even cared!" Buffy yelled as she stormed out.

"UGH! FUCK!" Shane yelled as she turned and hit at the bag again with even more force than before.

Across town, Willow and Tara were getting ready to go to the cultural festival. Willow was happy that Tara and she had 'gotten past' their little argument at Buffy's birthday party. Tara was scared about Willow's power increase. She didn't like arguing with Willow as it rarely happened and if she got too mad she would just head over to Faith's place to talk it out with her. Tara felt bad about always running to Faith because she felt she might be playing with the slayer's feelings but she was still always there for her.

They were enjoying the festival when they spotted Faith and Shane, who had been dragged by a simple spiel from Faith about feeling she was needed there. Tara was about to walk towards them when Willow stopped her. Willow lost her good mood at seeing the two demi-gods. She wanted this day with Tara only and didn't want Faith around her girlfriend more than she already had.

"Tara, do you mind if we don't invite them to join us? I kind of wanted to spend the day just us." Willow asked with a pout to, hopefully, get Tara to agree.

"Oh sure, Willow. I know we haven't gotten to spend some time together, with this new big bad and all." Tara agreed reluctantly.

"I'm a little thirsty. Could you wait here while I get something? Did you want anything too?" Willow asked as she started walking in the direction of the concession stand.

Tara sat down on the bench nearby, granting Willow's wish of having them spend the day to get her. A couple minutes later, she felt a hand slip into hers. Tara turned with a small smile on her face but that fell when she came face to face with a curly blonde. Glory smirked at finally finding her key and just in the nick of time. Tara was freaking out knowing she was not powerful enough to best the god.

"Well, I finally found you. Those monks thought they could hide you but I am smarter than those lowly mongrels think." Glory said smirking as she put pressure on Tara's hand.

Tara could feel the bones in her hand breaking and resisted screaming in pain. She knew Glory would kill anyone should she yell out. Glory looked at the blood spilling from the blonde's hand and brought it up to her mouth. Licking it, she lost her smirk as it didn't taste right. Tara grew more frightened at the sight and wished she had someone who could help her get free.

"You're not the Key. You're only a witch. A lowly witch but I guess you can be of some use. I did tell the Slayer that I would hurt her friends." Glory said as she brought her hands towards Tara's head.

"Let her go, bitch." A voice snapped bringing the god away from her goal to put Tara in a choke hold.

Tara was relieved to see Faith standing there. Faith moved into a fighting position waiting for the perfect time to strike. Glory tightened her hold on the witch in her arms thinking of a way to get the identity of the key from these people. Shane was sneaking up behind with all the stealth skill she possessed. Willow was returning from getting their drinks as she approached she finally noticed the situation.

"If you tell me who the Key is, I will let this witch go?" Glory said though most didn't actually believe her.

"No. Don't. I'm not worth the world." Tara yelled hoping they would heed her words.

Faith and Shane were floored with the idea of letting Tara die. Shane knew she had to work quickly if she wanted to save her sister. Willow was troubled she couldn't lose Tara but she didn't think that Buffy would like her betraying them. Faith couldn't think of a way to stall Glory before Shane could get to them.

"It's Dawn. Dawn is the key. Now please let her go." Willow yelled defeated, which shocked Tara and Faith.

Glory only smirked as she again raised her hands to suck the sanity from the blonde. Shane grabbed them just in time and threw her away from the group. She stood blocking any path by her while yelling to the group to run and to Buffy and Dawn to get them away from here. She said she would catch up with them if she could. The group ran and Glory made to go after but Shane right jabbed her in the face. Glory kicked out which Shane blocked with her shoulder. Glory got a hit to the midsection and almost a hit to her jaw. Shane kicked at her knee and aimed a punch to her ribs, both connected. Shane could feel the constant tiredness that she had felt since the Underworld. Glory left jabbed at her face which she was too slow to block and fell to her knees. Looking up at the blonde god, she prays that Faith and the other two got back to Buffy and her sacrifice wouldn't be in vain.

"I'm not going to kill you, yet. I'm going to use you as a bargaining chip." Glory said as she struck another shot to her head effectively knocking her out.

AN: There you go. Please review and tell me what you think and anything else that you think would be fun to see.


	15. Chapter 15

AN: BTVS doesn't belong to me.

"Glory found out about Dawn and we need to get out of here fast." Faith said as she ran into the Summers' home with Tara and Willow following behind her.

"WHAT? How did she found out? Never mind, we need to get out of here. How long ago did you see her and did she follow you?" Buffy asked trying to think of a plan.

"We have a bit of time." Faith sighed, "Buffy, Shane stayed behind to hold her off. I don't know how long she could do it but we should move fast. Maybe, Fang could help us in L. A."

"Okay, we can find a vehicle to carry all of us to Angel's place." Buffy agreed locking down her emotions about Shane staying behind, "Faith, can you stay here with Dawn while I get Spike to help us find a car or something?"

"Yeah and I'll call Giles and the other two to tell them to get ready to flee. Also need to get Tara to the hospital to get her hand looked at." Faith answered as Buffy went out the door.

Faith quickly made the phone call to the Magic Box and informed the others that they were, in Faith's words, get their asses over to the house if they wanted to be saved from a hell god. Faith turned to Willow just glaring at her while Tara couldn't even look her in the eye. Unknown to them, Dawn was sitting at the top of the stairs.

"I can't believe you, Red. You put Dawn in danger and to do what? Huh, what did you think was going to happen when Glory got her answer? She doesn't give a fuck about anyone! Did you really think she was going to let Tara go? We had a plan and now there is a chance that you just got someone killed." Faith yelled at the red headed witch.

"What was your plan exactly? I didn't see you trying to do anything." Willow yelled back at Faith, who was opening her moth to yell back, but was interrupted by a small voice.

"Why did you tell her, Willow? I begged you not to. Dawn is only a kid and she doesn't need this. Now, my own sister could be deeply injured or worse because you were being selfish." Tara said close to tears.

"I couldn't stand it if you died, Baby. I love you." Willow replied trying to make Tara see her point.

"Fuck you, Red. Me and Shane care for Tara and would never have just sat there and watch her get hurt. Tara, how's your hand? 'Cause once the others get here we are heading for the hospital to get it look at." Faith said with concern, examining said hand.

Now that the adrenaline had gotten out of her system, Tara was feeling the pain. Faith looked worried as she really wanted to get Tara to the hospital but she knew she had to watch out for Dawn. Joyce walked in on her way to check on Dawn, when she saw the condition of Tara's hand.

"Oh my Tara, shouldn't we get you to the hospital?" Joyce gasped out in a mother like worry for the blonde.

"Yeah but I'm worried about leaving you guys here alone. Glory knows about Dawn and could end up coming here." Faith answered.

"I can take her and, either, you come and get us or we come back here after wards." Joyce suggested to which Faith nodded.

Across town, Shane woke up to the site of a construction bunker and one of Glory's minions watching over her. She could feel her arms chained to the ground. Shane tried pulling as hard as she could but wasn't successful. Failed attempt after failed attempt didn't stop her from trying again and again. The minions were getting amusement at watching her fail. Shane hadn't seen Glory since waking up and grew worried that she had already had Dawn. Hours later, Glory entered with some more of her minions and, to Shane's horror, Dawn behind them.

"Well looky at what I got." Glory gloated holding Dawn in front of her so Shane had a good look.

"I'll kill you, I swear. I will end you." Shane snarled back tugging on her chains as she attempted to get into Glory's face.

"I doubt it. You can't even break out of those chains." Glory laughed.

Dawn was terrified and that was only making Shane angrier. The minion, who was dressed like a priest of some sort, was marking Dawn's forehead. Glory was bored and pushed them all out of the room. Glory was ranting about the key and going home. Dawn was crying softly from the words coming out of the hell god's mouth. Shane was trying, discreetly, to get leverage on her chains. At some point, Glory got upset and brought the priest back in.

It was some time after that when Glory started freaking out about what she started feeling. Shane watched on stunned as Glory turned into Ben. Ben looked around and grabbed Dawn's arm to get her out of here. Dawn pulled them to a stop and was staring at Shane wanting to help her get out of the chains.

"No, Dawn, just go. Leave me and don't worry. You, better get her out of here 'cause I swear I will hurt you if you don't." Shane finished staring directly at Ben, who nodded in response, and they left out the door.

However a few minutes later, Ben and couple of minions brought Dawn back into the room. Ben looked at the pissed off demi-god and got into her face to apologize. When he went to open his mouth, she threw her head as hard as she could and smiled a little when she heard his nose break. He transformed back to Glory, who pulled her leg back and kicked Shane in the ribs. Shane only smirked at the god realized that her counterpart was only human and that made even the next shot to the face keep her smirk.

AN: Please review and I don't know if this seems short but I thought it was a good point to end. Now would you like to see the Scoobies' escaping and all that or would you like me to go on to the next event?


	16. Chapter 16

AN: So those reading that I heard from want me to move on to the next event and I will. Any real changes will be explained in the story. BTVS doesn't belong to me.

Buffy and Tara emerged from the backroom of the Magic Box. Buffy had gone into shock after Dawn was taken by Glory. Willow had volunteered to help Buffy out of her coma like state but before Glory took off she revealed that it was Willow who told about Dawn. Tara worried that Willow's presence in Buffy's mind wouldn't be welcomed so Tara took over. They joined the rest of the group at the table.

"Faith how's the cut?" Buffy asked concerned Faith had been standing in front of the knights' king and dodged the rim cover Glory threw at the king but it still cut lightly across her chest over her shoulder.

"It's fine." Faith answered sincerely.

"Good, alright, what do we do to get Dawn back?" Buffy turned her attention to the rest of the group.

"Between you and Faith couldn't you hold Glory back while we work on getting Dawn?" Joyce suggested.

"Mom, I can't let you go. You're still weak from…." Buffy trailed off not wanting to say the words.

"But, Buffy, I can't just sit here while **both **of my daughters are in danger." Joyce explained with worry.

"We will come back, Mom, I swear but please just stay here so I don't have to worry about you too." Buffy pleaded and Joyce nodded in acceptance.

"So how do we hold off a God exactly?" Faith interjected.

"What about Ben? He is human and thus vulnerable." Xander pointed out before realizing what he said then look disgusted at himself.

"That would mean we would need to get Glory to transform back into him. At least, whatever enchantment was placed on them to keep humans from seeing him transform has fallen; seeing as you guys remember him transforming." Faith stated.

"Oi, so why was the rouge here able to remember him transforming but you lot couldn't?" Spike spoke up for the first time since the meeting started.

"Well, I would say that because we are all basically human but Faith is part god which must make her immune." Giles explained before continuing onto another topic, "What are we going to do if we don't reach Glory in time and the ritual has started?"

"The ritual starts and the world ends. That's it, Giles." Buffy said understanding what Giles was really asking in his question.

"Buffy, if the portal opens, then untold pain and torment will come to earth and destroy everything including Dawn." Giles stated regretfully.

"Then the last thing she will see is me protecting her. I will kill anyone who dares try and come after her. I love you all but I'm sorry." Buffy told the group with determination.

"Well, that's nice. Now to make sure that doesn't happen, any suggestions on a way to stop Glory before she gets to Dawn?" Anya blurted out with her crazy peppiness.

"When you say you love us all…"

"Shut up, Spike." Xander and Giles interrupted Spike before he could finish.

"Oh oh, I got it, the Dagon Sphere. It was made to repel her right?" Anya suggested.

"We don't know if that would really slow her down enough." Buffy grunted out.

"Well, what about Olaf's magic hammer. He was a troll god." Anya said.

"That might work but unfortunately we don't know where Glory is." Willow pointed out.

"I can sense her. I did it before when I was tracking her back when she had that snake thing attack." Faith explained.

"Okay, sounds like a plan. Everyone take some time to make sure you got everything and them we go." Buffy ordered feeling better about taking on Glory this time.

Back in the construction site, Shane watched through one swollen eye as the minions grabbed Dawn and dragged her from the room. Glory stood before her with a big smile on her face as felt so close to victory.

"You know, I think, I want a little snack for the road." Glory said as she walked around to the back of Shane.

Shane had a feeling about what was coming next. She closed her eyes and grabbed her ever present dog tags. Tugging on them hard enough to break the chain, the demi-god spoke words that the god behind her couldn't understand. Glory drove her hands into her prisoner's skull and an immense pain erupted in both parties. Shane felt the blinding pain in her head as Glory sucked her mind but a pain at the base of her neck over powered it and had Shane grabbing at it in desperation. Glory felt a sharp pain in her own head as she continued to destroy the sanity of the young woman in front of her. There was an explosion of power that threw Glory out of the room and into her crowd of workers while it threw Shane to the opposite side of the room. The power was felt throughout half of the world.

Glory was slow to get up but when she did she felt severely weakened. Faith was standing near her holding the Dagon Sphere before she tossed it at Glory figuring she couldn't touch it. Buffy charged in after Glory crushed the sphere hitting her in the head with the hammer. Faith started attacking the god's legs trying to keep Glory from getting a footing while Buffy was swinging the hammer hitting her midsection and face with it. Hearing Dawn scream, both girls were distracted long enough for Glory to hit them.

The minions had gathered all of the crazies to make a barrier between the entrance to the stairway and the Scoobies. The Scoobies charged at the mob trying to get the innocents out of the way without hurting them too much and Spike was aiming for the demons to avoid a headache. However, they were being pushed back more than they were gaining forward. Feeling that someone was up with Dawn, Willow telepathically told Spike to charge and the witches would take care of the rest.

The Slayers were having trouble getting the upper hand again. Buffy was down on the ground with Glory standing over her about to deliver the final blow. Buffy closed her eyes but never felt the next blow. When she opened them, there was Shane locked in a battle with Glory. Shane had picked up the troll hammer and swung it one handed at Glory's head. Glory blocked the next shot to the stomach but Buffy and Faith had joined back into the fight. Glory was taking shot after shot and having a hard time stopping three super powered opponents.

Dawn was looking frightfully at the old man that was holding a knife so close to her. She sighed in relief when she saw Spike make it up to the walkway she had been tied to. Doc turned as Spike approached which he exchanged some words with the neutered vampire before he shot his tongue out. Spike dodged but Doc had ended up behind him. Dawn screamed in terror as she watched Spike get tossed from the tower. Feeling helplessness settle into her, she started to cry and Doc taunted her before lifting his knife to cut into her but a deep voice stopped him.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." The voice belonged to a man with a crew cut styled brown hair with a black T-shirt and camouflage pants.

Doc didn't waste any time shooting out his tongue but unlike Spike the unknown man had caught it. Yanking the old demon, he cut off the head with a large hunting knife and flinging both ends off the walkway. He strolled up to Dawn and smirked before cutting off her restraints. He guarded Dawn as they descended the tower, taking out any enemy who got close.

Glory had finally got the chance to back away from the group when she was struck by a wrecking ball. Buffy and Faith had taken off to go get Dawn, when they saw that Ben had emerged. Shane snarled as she stepped through the rubble to the fallen human. Kneeling down by his side, she grabbed his head and just before she twisted she growlingly whispered.

"Hades, take this sacrifice and be satisfied." The snap of his neck accented the end.

As she walked back out of the hole, she felt a sting at the base of her neck as well as a hand settled there before her world went black. The stranger to the group watched as he knocked out Shane and set her down on the ground to rest. He disappeared inside the building only to reemerge with Shane's dog tags. Buffy had enough of this guy's mysterious attitude and walked right into his face. Faith felt something was off when she gazed at the man standing there just watching Shane sleep.

"I don't know who you are or what you are doing here but I want some answers." Buffy demanded causing the man to smirk, which finally caused Faith to realize what her senses were telling her.

"B, B, Buff, um Buffy." Faith kept trying to get her attention and she finally did when Buffy turned around.

"What is it, Faith?" She replied annoyed.

"It's just that man right there is Shane's dad. Ares you know the god of war." Faith explained in a little bit of awe which spread to the rest of the group.

"That's right. I received a prayer of help from Shane before that big power wave went out. Luckily, she remembered to take these off or I would never been able to find her in time." Ares said as she showed the dog tags.

"Why was there a surge in the first place? What do those do?" Giles asked curiously.

"They make so no god or demi-god can find her. I gave them to her when she left Olympus so she wouldn't feel I was watching her all the time. Now onto the surge, God minds are more complex than humans even demi-gods have a bit of that complexity so when Glory tried to mess with her head it was too complex for even her powers to handle. Now, I'm going to take Shane back to Olympus 'til she is healed. Don't worry she'll be back 'cause I'm going to leave these with you." Ares told them as he placed Shane's tags in Buffy's hands and they disappeared.

***The Time the power surge went out***

A long blonde haired girl shot up in her bed when she felt a surge go through her. She smiled and jumped out of bed and headed to where a shaggy haired blonde had shot up from a deep sleep as well.

"We found her. We finally found her." The female told her twin as she jumped on him.

AN: please review and tell me what you think.


	17. Chapter 17

AN: Thank you for all your reviews. BTVS doesn't belong to me.

Faith ducked a swing to the head and jabbed at the ribs. Buffy brought her arm to block and threw a quick kick, hitting Faith's knee tripping her. Buffy helped pulled the other Slayer to her feet.

"Are we stopping already? Getting rusty in your old age, Faith?" Buffy asked jokingly grabbing a bottle of water.

"I'm younger than you, B, and no I'm meeting Tara." Faith answered with a laugh.

"Oh, that's cool. I'm glad that you and her are getting along so well and, on another note, have you heard anything from Shane?" Buffy hoped for a positive reply.

"Sorry, B. Haven't heard from her but she is probably still in recovering or something. Ares said she would come back for her tags." Faith said while pointing at the newly repaired dog tags hanging on Buffy's neck. Faith chuckled and continued, "I think someone has a crush."

"What? No, I don't. I just want to make sure they don't get lost anywhere." Buffy replied unconvincingly.

"Uh huh, keep telling yourself that, B." Faith waved as she left the backroom of the Magic Box.

Buffy sat down on the bench and, unconsciously, holding Shane's tags in her hand. '_There is no way that I have a crush on Shane. I know I thought of her as good looking occasionally but I don't think that means that I'm crushing on her. I think I was just lonely or something. Aw, who am I kidding? I do like her but I don't know how we could make that work. She can get so angry sometimes and never wants to open up about it. Huh,_' Buffy thought as she ran her thumb over the dog tags.

"Hey, Tara." Faith said as Tara opened the door.

"Hi, Faith, how are you?" Tara asked as she moved aside to let Faith fully inside.

"Fine, so are you ready to go?" Faith questioned with a smile but it fell at Tara's confused look.

"Um, we had something planed?" Tara wondered.

"You forgot we were hanging out? This is the third time that you have done this. I didn't do something wrong, did I? I thought you would tell me if I did." Faith stated with concern on her face.

"You haven't done anything wrong, Faith, I swear. I don't know where my head has been at lately. Sometimes, I feel like I'm missing parts of the day." Tara vehemently answered to, hopefully, reassure the demi-god.

"Oh, well are you free still or did you plan something?" Faith asked feeling only slightly reassured.

"I, apparently, made plans with you and I don't try to make a habit of standing people up." Tara replied with a small smile, which in turn caused Faith to smirk.

AN: Please review and tell me what you think. There was a bit of a time skip so this would be about four months after Glory. I know it might seem a little short but I thought it would be a nice place to stop. Shane shall return next chapter and you may even see me describe my version of Olympus.


	18. Chapter 18

AN: I received a review that I really appreciated and respected. It was mentioned that I had shorten all of the Faith/Tara action to almost none and I'm sorry about that I didn't even realize I did it. I also wanted to point out that the main characters of this story are: Shane, Buffy, Faith, and Tara. I put it under Faith/Tara because they were main characters. I really thank you for pointing out my mistake and, again, I really appreciate all who are honest in their opinions and so the next week's chapter will be solely devoted to the progression of the Faith/Tara romance. Thank you to all who review and BTVS is not mine.

Waking to the sound of swords clashing, Shane rubbed her eyes and sat up. She looked around at her room in her father's temple. It was covered with weapons and a book shelf with different war books. She dressed in the only clothes she had left there, which consisted of a sleeveless blood red shirt that had Ares' symbol on it and a pair of black cargo pants. The newly arisen demi-god walked out onto her balcony overlooking the battle arena, which look remarkably like the Roman Coliseum, to watch Ares and Artemis fight.

Shane laughed at the sight of Ares, who looked like he was in his late 30's, and Artemis, who looked no older than twelve at best. Artemis almost looked weird as a twelve year old in a leather breast plate that went all the way down her arms and a fighter's skirt with a deer pelt wrapped around her waist. Despite her look, the sliver haired goddess of the hunt was holding her own against the god of war. Ares would go for a slash across her body but would be stop by the spear aiming for his head. Ares looked to be having trouble getting past her guard and she seemed to have trouble making a hit on him as well.

"I see you are awake but the question is are you mentally stable or are you still you?" A voice from behind the brownish blonde haired woman mocked.

Shane sighed with annoyance and turned to face the woman behind her. The female looked to be about seventeen and was dressed in a similar fashion to Artemis but she had a leather band circling a bang of her brown hair.

"Oh, you're so funny, Zoe. I would say go get laid but I don't think even that would help you." Shane commented dryly.

"I should kill you where you stand insolent punk." Zoe said through gritted teeth.

"Please try, I would love to take the lieutenant of the Hunters down a peg." Shane snarled back getting into her face.

"I doubt you could even touch me." Zoe bragged.

Shane smirked and poked the Hunter, which she responded to by punching her in the face. Shane threw a quick kick to the knee and Zoe blocked it. Zoe kicked out towards the demi-god's midsection but was caught and the Hunter was lifted and thrown back down onto the concrete floor. Zoe kip-upped and went to strike out with a jab but was held back by Artemis and Ares held the struggling Shane.

"That is enough, Zoe Nightshade. You know better than to fall victim to your anger." The goddess of the hunt reprimanded and dragged her out of the room.

"And you, Shane, know better than to keep antagonizing the Hunters." Ares said in a disappointed voice but then continued in a happier voice, "I have something I want to tell you."

"Don't tell me you got 'married' to Aphrodite again." Shane groaned.

"Yep and this time it will work." Ares stated with a grin.

"You said that last time and then you said something offensive to her and she 'divorced' you." Shane reminded.

"You say that now but watch we will go on till the end of time. Anyway, she wants to see you and I really don't want to know why." Ares commented walking away.

Shane followed after she slipped on her tennis shoes. Finally getting out of the maze of hallways, she saw the streets of Olympus. There is a market in the center, which looked like an old Greek market, with the temples of the twelve Olympian Gods surrounding it. The market had creatures like satyrs, wood nymphs, and almost every mythical creature and the stores were for weapons, armor, and regular old fashion Greek clothing. Shane looked over the temples next, which many hadn't changed since Olympus was created. Zeus' temple stood in the center, with lightning flashing around the tall white marble building, from there it was the Goddesses on the right and the Gods on the left. Poseidon's was a cabin with an 'ocean view', Hera's was to the immediate right of Zeus' and was modeled after a family home, Ares' had a gothic styled castle that looked like it was painted with blood, Athena had a library type look to it, Dionysus had grape vines wrapped around his entire temple, Demeter had a farm house with a wide field full of crops, Apollo had a opened roofed temple with famous artistic drawings and musical notes flowing around it, Artemis had a huge hunting tent with various animal pelt hanging off it and if you see it in the moon light it glowed sliver, Hephaestus had a metal factory with black smoke billowing from the stack, Aphrodite had a mirrored temple with golden cupids in the front, and Hermes ended up with a large open roofed post office.

Deciding that Aphrodite could wait, Shane walked into Athena's temple. The walls were decorated with maps of famous battle strategies and buildings across the globe. Approaching the end room which was a huge circular library, Shane saw the goddess of wisdom, in a traditional Greek toga with her symbol printed in the center and brunette hair curled down her body. Athena smiled at the young demi-god as she bowed in respect.

"What can I do for you, Daughter of Ares?" Athena asked with interest.

"I found your missing daughter, your highness." Shane answered shocking the goddess.

"Where is she and what is her name?" Athena demanded hurriedly.

"Her name is Faith and she resides in Sunnydale, California. I believe the Hellmouth and slayer powers are masking her." The demi-god informed.

"Thank you, young one, and now please go so I can think on what to do." The goddess dismissed her and as she turned to leave she informed Athena.

"Faith would like to meet you and know where she comes from."

Shane left leaving Athena to think. Making the walk to Aphrodite's temple, she was dragging her feet. Her meeting with the goddess of love never really well and usually she ends up offending Aphrodite, which is never a good thing. She paused just outside the temple then sighed and walked down the mirrored hallways painted with hearts on some of them. The main room was a mirrored bedroom with a heart-shaped bed in the center and a vanity table with the best beauty products on it. Looking around but not seeing the blonde goddess of love, she turned to leave but said goddess was right behind her. Aphrodite wore a tight pink shirt and a miniskirt with her blonde hair falling down past the skirt and Shane reluctantly bowed in her presence.

"Raise, Shane. Come on you're my step-daughter now." Aphrodite said as she smiled.

"My father said you wanted to see me and I would really like to be making my way back to California." Shane bluntly stated.

"I wanted to know how your sister liked my blessing necklace." The blonde explained.

"She likes it and thank you for accepting the protection prayer." Shane said thankfully and yet reluctantly.

"How could I not? Tara is so full of love and kindness just like your mother. I was even sad to see her taken from the world too early." Aphrodite remarked with appraisal in her voice.

"I know this and if that is all I would like to leave." The young demi-god of war requested.

"Fine but I would like to remind you that I don't directly interfere with Tara's protection but put those who love her in the area to defend her." The goddess of love stated

"I know and I will always be there for her now and until I can no longer breathe." Shane said as she walked out of the temple and out of Olympus, all together. Looking around the city that was the Empire State building, she sighed dejectedly and said "They couldn't drop me in Sunnydale."

AN: Please review and ask any questions you may have. I wanted to get Shane back on Earth before I ended the chapter. Again, next week will be all Tara/Faith. There are some thing I do want to explain and that is Zoe Nightshade, Artemis' age, and the Empire State building being the gateway to Olympus are from the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series. Good books and I recommend them to people very interested in Greek mythology. Again review and please tell me honestly if you think I'm slipping up on something. I really appreciate it.


	19. Chapter 19

AN: Thank you for all the reviews I get. As I said last week, this chapter will be about the Faith/Tara romance. BTVS doesn't belong to me. I do want to answer a statement that a reviewer left. Ares and Aphrodite are actually together in Greek mythology.

Tara stared in shock at the words written in the spell book she had been reading. After Faith's comments about her forgetting her plans, she wanted to see what was going on with her. Tara knew that she didn't easily forget things and thought that something magical must be happening with her. She had her suspicions confirmed when Buffy came over to continue to talk about Willow's magic use.

Now, she had come across a flower that had been under Willow's pillow. After her conversation with Buffy, Tara had decided to look the flower up and she had found but a part of her now wishes she hadn't. This flower had the power to remove memories and Tara had her numbness replaced by anger. '_I can't believe she did this to me. I thought she loved me and now she is messing with my mind. My free will to be angry with her and to even voice my opinion. How could she call me her everything but then turn around and do this?_' Tara thought as she got madder at her girlfriend.

Willow had gotten back from the Magic box smiling at seeing Tara. The blonde heard the door open and immediately turned on the red headed witch. She had a depressed but furious expression and Willow immediately lost her smile.

"Willow, I know what you did. How could you do this to me?" Tara yelled at the red head.

"No, Tara. I…. I just didn't want us to fight anymore." Willow tried to explain.

"So, taking away my free will was the only way to accomplish this. We couldn't just talk about it like a normal couple." Tara argued back.

"No, I…." Willow couldn't finish.

"I knew you were addicted to magic and now you use it on me. The person you said you loved, great way of showing it." Tara said then sighed as she continued, "We're done, Willow."

Tara fled with tears in her eyes. She wasn't thinking as she ran but still ended up in front of the demi-gods' home. When Faith answered the door, she wasn't expecting for Tara to cling onto her and fully breakdown. Faith held Tara to her chest as she lifted the broken witch and carried her into the living room and sat themselves down on one of the couches. Five minutes later, Faith noticed that Tara's breathing had evened out and moved them into her room.

Tara slowly opened her eyes and noticed that she was in Faith's room as well as against the brunette demi-god/slayer. She looked up and noticed that Faith had fallen asleep too. Faith held her too tight to herself to keep Tara from getting up, not that she really wanted to. Tara laid there for a bit before she felt Faith start to shift as if she was waking up.

"Good evening, Faith." Tara politely said.

"Hey, T. So do you want to tell me what is going on?" Faith questioned a little groggily and had taken to running her fingers through Tara's hair, as to try to keep the blonde calm.

"Huh. I broke up with Willow. I found out she was making me forget arguments with her." Tara answered as she almost started to cry again.

"I can't believe it. The nerve of her. I may have done some bad things in my life but I have never fucked with a person's mind literally." Faith seethed.

"Faith, please, don't hurt her. I know she screwed up but, hopefully, we can still save her. So, can we please talk about something else?" Tara tried to calm the brunette.

"Yeah, we can. Um, let's see, oh, I read a book in ancient Greek." Faith threw out there excitedly.

"Wow, I didn't know you knew ancient Greek." Tara lightly smiled at Faith's distraction.

"It was Shane's book so I think it's a demi-god thing." Faith said with a smile then turned serious as she questioned the light witch, "Where are you staying or did you kick Willow out of your apartment?"

"No, I didn't kick her out and I have nowhere to stay." Tara answered sadly.

"Well then, you can stay here until however long. We do got a spare room though it is really small but only if you want to that is." Faith stated.

"Thank you, Faith. I don't need a large room." Tara thanked Faith and squeezed her arms a little but then noticed how they were and pulled back rambling, "I'm sorry, Faith. I was just kind of comfortable and I know you like but I didn't want you to think you're some kind of rebound. I mean, I just broke up with Willow and I think I should wait a bit before jumping back in."

"It's cool, T. I wasn't even thinking about that. I'm just glad that you thought of me to come to for comfort." Faith said as she pulled the blonde back to her but blushed when her stomach growled, causing Tara to chuckle.

"How about we finally get us something to eat and you can tell me what else you noticed with your god side?" Tara asked with a smile.

Faith knew that it was a way to get Tara's mind off what Willow did and their breakup but the brunette couldn't resist Tara's blue eyes and replied, "Sure."

AN: So this might not be my best chapter but I still felt I needed to try to write. I have had a lot on my mind and I'm not trying to make an excuse just tell me honestly what you think. So please review and hopefully I will do better next time. I just hope you readers don't think I short changed Tara and Faith in this chapter.


	20. Chapter 20

AN: Sorry I'm late on the update. If you read the post I put on my profile then you know I was doing some charity work and really couldn't post anything. Anyway, thank you for your reviews even if it wasn't the best chapter I could have done. BTVS doesn't belong to me.

Shane had stopped to get gas in the Ford F-350 she rented. Leaning against the blue truck, Shane wanted to get back to Sunnydale. '_I can't believe that I, for once, have a place to go to and not just wandering around._' Shane sighed.

"Well, someone is just so excited." A sarcastic voice sounded from Shane's left.

The dark blonde turned and faced the new person. A man about six feet tall with shaggy sandy blonde hair looking to be in his mid-twenties was standing there in ripped blue jeans and yellow t-shirt.

"Hermes, what are you doing here? I know I'm traveling and all but really I think I will be okay." Shane said to the god.

"I am doing my job and not the travelling job but I got a delivery for you. That uptight father of yours told me to give you this." Hermes said handing a long katana to her before continuing handing her a cell phone, "And, of course, my irresponsible brother said to give you this and call, in his words, that cute little blonde slayer you so desperately obsess over."

"Tell Ares thank you and tell Apollo to go fuck himself." Shane stated as she put her katana in the passenger seat and climbed in the truck to continue her journey.

In Sunnydale, Tara was fixing Faith and her some breakfast before they started their day.

"So, what did you want to do today?" Faith asked Tara from her spot on the counter.

"I don't know. Do you think we could just hide out here for the day? I don't want to face anyone just yet." Tara sighed in sadness.

"Of course, we can. I'm sure we can find something to do." Faith answered wanting to cheer the sad blonde Wiccan up as they sat down to eat. "How did you learn to cook so well?" Faith wondered.

"My mom taught me. Funny thing is, she tried to teach Shane to but all she ended up doing was making a mess." Tara laughed at the memory.

"I thought you would be too young to remember her?" Faith asked.

"A little yes but Shane always tried to help me or even spend time with me. I never had many friends and was bullied a lot for my stutter." Tara reminisced.

"That sucks. You're too nice to be bullied or alone." Faith said honestly.

"Thank you, Faith. You know, behind that tough exterior you're really sweet." Tara complimented.

"Only to you maybe." Faith replied awkwardly.

"Come on, Faith. How about you teach me some more fighting techniques?" Tara suggested to ease Faith's weirdness.

"Sure." Faith replied feeling better now that the conversation had turned.

AN: I think this would be a good place to stop. So please review and please ask me questions if you don't understand anything or if you have any suggestions.


	21. Chapter 21

AN: Thank you for all your reviews. BTVS doesn't belong to me.

"Faith took Tara. She's evil again. I said she wasn't to be trusted." Willow yelled as she stormed into the Magic Box causing everyone to stop and stare at the enraged red head.

"Willow, I don't mean to sound like you are making things up but Faith and Tara spend a lot of time together. Are you sure she took her?" Buffy asked skeptically.

"Yes, she rushed in and grabbed her; then left before I could do anything to help her." Willow lied.

"I'll go check out her place. The rest of you stay here." Buffy said as she left the shop with determination on her face.

Faith and Tara were laughing at a joke the brunette demi-god told. Suddenly, the front door was kicked in and Faith reacted by pushing Tara behind her. Buffy strode in with an expression, which to Faith, looked like the night she stabbed her.

"B, what the fuck are you doing?" Faith screamed at the blonde slayer.

"Willow told us what you did, Faith. I can't believe I trusted you again." Buffy answered getting into a fighting stance.

"What I did? I haven't done anything to that Bitch, as much as I want to." Faith stated as she dodged a fist coming at her face.

"Why would she lie to me, Faith?" Buffy asked throwing a high kick, which Faith took to the head.

Buffy went to hit Faith again while she was dazed but stopped just short of hitting Tara. Tara stood between a demi-god and a slayer without fear of what could happen to her. Both stopped their fight as not to hurt the blonde witch.

"Willow lied to you, Buffy. I broke up with her a couple of days ago because she was using magic on me. Remember the last time we talked, I said I never remembered talking with you to Willow about her magic use." Tara remarked and continued with Buffy's nod, "She did a spell on me to take away the memories of us fighting. I don't know what she told you about Faith but whatever it is, it's not true."

"She said that Faith took you." Buffy sighed. "I can't believe she would lie to me like that. I should have known better than that. I'm sorry, Faith. I was skeptical when she walked in but I guess past insecurities got the better of me. God, I am such an idiot."

"B, calm down. I'm use to being your punching bag and it's like you said why would she lie to you." Faith said trying to withhold some anger at the blonde's jump to conclusion, it didn't work.

"Again, Faith, I'm really sorry about attacking you and breaking your front door down. So, what are we going to about Willow?" Buffy questioned.

"She is getting so deep into her magic and she is very powerful. I don't know what to do." Tara informed sadly.

"What if we wore her down? I mean, could she really keep using all these big spells without feeling the effects?" Faith suggested trying to form a plan in her head.

"No, it's like with any regular body. There is only so much it could take. Why? What are you planning in that head of yours, Faith Lehane?" Tara asked worriedly.

"I was just thinking. You remember Post, don't you, B?" Faith avoided and Buffy nodded, not understanding why. "I could draw her fire and, when she is drained enough, you could knock her out, B." Faith explained her plan, which got a bad reaction from Tara.

"What? No, Faith. You can't do that. She could kill you. Please, I couldn't take it if that happened." Tara freaked out.

"I'll be careful, Tara, but this is the only way that I think it could work. We don't want to kill her." Faith tried to calm the blonde Wicca.

"Plans go wrong all the time, Faith, and I don't know if I live with it knowing I let you walk into this with the probability of you getting killed by my best friend." Buffy told the demi-goddess of wisdom.

"B, I know what I'm doing. Now, come on before she gets suspicious or something. She knows we aren't expecting you to attack." Faith states impatiently, already walking out the door.

Buffy walked into the Magic Box while Tara and Faith snuck around back to catch Willow by surprise. The gang watched as Buffy entered with a pissed off expression. Willow was worried at the face of Buffy looking so angry.

"What happened, Buff?" Xander asked worryingly as the Scoobies except Willow moved towards the slayer.

Everyone was shocked when they heard an impact of a flesh hitting flesh. They turned to see one very enraged Faith while Tara moved to the counter.

"Buffy, aren't you going to do something?" Willow asked holding her cheek with a dread feeling creeping in.

"You lied to me, Willow. I could have really hurt Faith; all because you can't control your magic and Tara left you. Can't you see what it's doing to you, Wills?" Buffy tried to reason with her best friend.

"I have control, Buffy!" Willow yelled her eyes turning black as she got angry.

"Listen to your friends, Red. You don't have to do this." Faith said to make Willow focus back on her.

"You! This is all your fault." Willow screamed as she gathered energy a dark energy and formed it into a ball.

Willow threw the ball and Faith rolled to avoid at the last second. Buffy pushed the rest of the Scoobies behind a wall, peeking over it to keep an eye on the two dueling in the middle of the Magic Box. Faith dodged another ball of energy but was caught by the one that came straight after it. She flew straight through a wall into the backroom. Willow smirked at the downed demi-god as she slowly got up. Faith barley pushed herself out of the way as another ball was flying at her. Willow started to feel her power weakening and prepared one last ball of energy to destroy the weakened brunette. Seeing the now black haired witch focused solely on

"Think about this, Red. You're not a murder." Faith tried to distract and reason with Willow.

"You're not human, Faith." Willow said as she prepared to finish her off.

Buffy turned her around and hit her in the jaw using only enough strength to knock her out. Willow slumped to the floor unconscious and Tara ran to where Faith was lying in the debris of the wall.

"Faith, are you okay?" Tara asked.

"I'll be fine, Tara. Nice timing, B." Faith coughed out in pain.

"Well, I couldn't let you die, Faith. I would hate to see what would happen to me." Buffy stated then turned to her watcher questioning him, "What should we do with Willow?"

"I got some friends in England that could be of help to her. I'll make the call." Giles answered heading to the phone.

AN: I hope you weren't hoping for Willow to be the main villain. Willow is smart but Faith, being the daughter of the goddess of battle strategy, would win almost easily. So please review and next time Shane will be back. Oh and if you get bored enough, check out my new story.


	22. Chapter 22

AN: Thank you for all the reviews I get. BTVS doesn't belong to me.

Giles had gotten Willow England with the help of Xander convincing her, this was best. He was staying there until the coven believed that Willow could control herself. Buffy felt sad at seeing her long time father figure leaving her. Xander was depressed to see his best friend fall so deep into magic that she nearly killed someone. Tara was mad at Faith for taking a chance with her life like that while Faith defended it was the only choice they had.

Tara and Faith were strolling around Sunnydale looking for demons and vampires. It was unusually quite between the two with the blonde witch still upset with Faith. '_I can't believe how reckless she was. She keeps saying that it was the only option but there had to be other ways then her getting blasted around the room by my ex. Her plan didn't 'factor' in how anybody would feel if Buffy was too late. _' Tara's thoughts continued to bring her down.

"Tara, I know you're mad at me but I swear I knew what I was doing. I'm sorry that I didn't take your feelings into my mind." Faith said tired of the silence between them.

"Why would you put yourself at risk like that, Faith? There was time for you to think of something better than that." Tara snapped at her.

"Maybe, but I'm fine and nothing bad happened. Tara, you got to stop focusing on what could have happened and start on the fact that I'm here and I'm fine." The brunette pleaded.

"Well, look at what we have here, boys." A smug voice sounded from behind Faith.

The demi-god turned and was met with the faces of six vampires. The one that spoke had black Hair and dressed like he died in the 70's. The rest of his group had the same look and laughed at their leader's comment.

"Don't you vamps ever get new material?" Faith asked sarcastically as she hit the closest vampire with a straight hit to the head.

They charged at the demi-god and witch but the front of the group was thrown back by Tara. Faith staked one but missed the next and the leader caught her with a kick to the back. Two of the vampires that were thrown back by Tara's spell turned to dust. Standing just behind the new dust piles, Buffy was smirking at the shock of the vampires. One of the minor vampires charged at the blonde slayer. She dodged the tackle he tried on her and retaliated with a heel kick to the back. Faith was fighting two at once and protecting Tara at the same time. The leader got a fist to the face while his helper hit Faith in the chest. Buffy was struck in the face but hit him with a jab into the midsection. The blonde kicked him back into the tree, where he hit a limb and joined the rest of his buddies as big piles of dust. While Faith was busy with the leader, the other vampire started onto Tara, who was standing away from the battle.

"Now, aren't you a nice little thing." The minion said in full vamp face with a wide hungry smile as he grabbed her by the shoulders.

Tara kicked out making the vampire back up and Tara took out a stake she kept on her. As the vampire charged, she drove it through its heart as he tackled her to the ground and he was dust. Faith ducked under a wild swing from the leader and turned him around to hit the heart with her stake. After he disintegrated, there was clapping heard behind the group. There stood a woman looking to be in her mid-30s with dark brown wavy hair and a nice white button up with black skirt. Faith felt a power coming from this women that felt similar to Glory's and, not thinking, she charged at the woman with Buffy staying back to protect Tara.

The unnamed brunette dodged the left fist and right kick but she threw a swift kick to Faith's left leg. Faith ducked a right punch and jabbed the woman's stomach then she hit the elbow. The older woman ducked the next punch and hit Faith's midsection with a left kick and followed up with another one to the same spot before Faith dodged a hook to the face. Faith caught one of her opponent's wrists and hit at the ribs with the back of her other arm. The lady twisted her wrist to break free and elbowed the young demi-god's cheek then following it up with a kick to the back. That hit threw Faith forward a bit and she immediately turned with her fist raised. The other woman had her own fist ready to hit the brunette but her fist was caught by a new figure and, while they caught the older woman's fist, Faith's connected with her jaw.

"Damn, is that how you greet a friend?" A voice familiar to everybody there exclaimed holding her jaw. "Fucking hell. Okay 1. what the hell, Faith and 2. why the fuck are you two fighting? Faith, this is Athena; Athena, Faith."

"Wait, what? Oh, I didn't know. I'm sorry." Faith apologized to her mother while Shane chuckled at them.

"It's fine. I'm sure you perceived me as a threat." Athena accepted her missing daughter's apologies with a smile on her face.

"I think this whole thing is my fault actually. I didn't tell you what she looked like and didn't tell them that you might stop in." Shane admitted then muttering under her breath, "Damn you, Apollo."

"Shane." Buffy and Tara interrupted as they hugged her.

"How about I catch up with these two while you get to know each other?" Shane suggested.

"That's reasonable but only if you want to?" Athena hadn't taken her eyes off Faith and asked uncertainly.

"Yeah, that'd be good." Faith said as they walked a bit away from everybody. "What's it mean to be like you?" Faith questioned wanting to start easy.

"I'm very skilled and smart but even Gods have their faults." Athena replied humbly.

"What I don't get is how could you have never found me?" Faith finally just asked the one question that had been bothering her since she found out about her origins.

"Demi-gods are rarely ever chosen as a slayer but you were one of those few and that messed with your own signature. I looked so hard for you but the dreaded man knew how to hide you from me. I never gave up hope that I would find you and, now, I have. This is a happy day for me and you have grown into a well-balanced adult." Athena explained with a wide dimpled smile.

"How can you tell that? You just met me ten minutes ago." Faith snorted.

"It was all in your behavior. You attacked but when you felt you had wronged someone you apologized without hesitation." The goddess of wisdom praised thoughtfully and they continued for hours.

***Meanwhile Miles Away***

"Oh, this is great, Brother. We have everything we need to get her to join us." A hyper blonde commented jumping around with a huge insane smile on her face.

"Yes, but we need to do this carefully or it could end in a very early grave for us." Her twin somberly supplied.

"You worry too much. She can't resist this power." The energetic blonde dismissed.

AN: So please review. If you don't get Shane's outburst about Apollo, it's because he gave her a phone to call Buffy but she never used it and in the end Faith and Athena met by fighting each other, where it all could have been avoided by a simple phone call. One last question, are there any episodes you would like to see happen with the addition of Shane and Faith in the mix? Again please review and let me know.


	23. Chapter 23

AN: I have gotten a suggestion for the musical episode and I will do that if you don't mind that they aren't songs I wrote. It's not a talent of mine but give me a week or two and I'll have it done. So please keep putting in episode requests and BTVS doesn't belong to me. Thanks for the reviews.

Shane was woken from her sleep by a pounding on her door. Groaning, she rolled over and yelled at Faith to go away. She heard her door open and Shane immediately threw her pillow at the intruder. Buffy got a face full of pillow and could hear Faith and Tara laughing at her from the kitchen.

"Now, go away, Faith." The demi-god groaned.

"It's not Faith, Shane, but I'm thinking this was a joke for her to get me to try and wake you up." Buffy huffed.

"Hi, Buffy." Shane bolted up and ran a hand through her hair.

"Well at least this time, your greeting doesn't involve a pillow hitting my face." Buffy chuckled.

"Yeah, sorry, I thought you were Faith and felt I was owed for the bruise her fist left on my jaw." Shane explained with a full smile.

"Ah, could be why she wanted me to wake you up. So, coffee?" Buffy suggested tilting her head down a bit and smiling.

"Don't drink the stuff but I'm up." Shane said climbing out of bed and stretched, Buffy watched with interest.

"How do you not drink coffee? I thought everyone over the age of twenty drank coffee." The blonde slayer commented with surprise.

"I did once but it didn't end well. I apparently went a little crazy with the sugar." The brownish blonde laughed again and they enter the kitchen still laughing. "So Tara, Willow know you stayed here again?"

"Wait; you didn't tell her?" Faith asked turning to the uncomfortable looking blonde witch.

"What am I missing?" Shane wondered looking at all the people in the room, no one met her eyes.

"W-w-w-willow w-w-wen-went..." Tara trailed off not being able to finish.

"Tara, calm down. Now, can someone please tell me what Willow did to my little sister?" Shane started out trying to calm Tara down but was seething at the end.

"She was placing a spell on Tara to forget any arguments they had but Tara found out then broke up with her. Tara ran to Faith and Willow told us Faith kidnapped her. I fought Faith until Tara jumped in the middle and explained the situation; then we went back to the Magic Box and confronted her. Faith ended up in a wall and I had to knock out my best friend to keep from killing her." Buffy spoke quietly and the demi-god of war crushed the cup she was holding.

"I'll kill her!" Shane yelled as she made for the door.

"Shane, Shane, stop." Buffy stepped in front the seething demi-god.

"No, that Bitch messed with my sister and I will not let her get away with just a slap on the wrist." Shane snapped getting into Buffy's face, causing the blonde to notice the red tint in her eyes.

"She's in England and going through some magical withdraw; besides, this isn't what Tara wants. Is this how you want to keep being there for Tara? Damn it, you don't need to kill someone for her to prove you care!" Buffy yelled back while it made the red in her eyes recede lightly she didn't back up.

"I won't let anything or anyone hurt Tara." She shot back with determination.

"Shane, I'm a grown up now. I have to do some things myself and you don't need to make up for what happened after you left. I don't blame you for what Dad did." Tara said placing a calming hand on Shane's shoulder and spinning her around to face the blonde witch.

"But… but I just left you." Shane sorrowfully stated.

"You needed to go so you could know what to expect from being a child of a god. I've never thought once that it was your fault or that you didn't want to leave us." Tara pulled her older sister into a hug with those words.

"He said that you would be in danger if I stayed. I didn't want to leave you but I didn't want trouble to find us either. I'm sorry, Tara, so very sorry." The demi-god returned the hug and they broke away after a few moments. "Now, how about we actually eat breakfast?" she chuckled rubbing at the back of her neck.

"Hey, War child, can I talk to you for a second?" Faith asked nodding to the living room and Shane followed. After they got into the room, Faith opened her mouth to speak, "Two things: 1. thank you for telling Athena where to find me, 2. do you think it's too soon to ask Tara out ?"

"Faith, you do know I'm the worst person to talk to about relationship stuff, right? But, I say go for it. You can't be any worse than her last choice." Shane informed her with a smirk. "Just remember what we discussed before on how she should be treated and I won't have to piss Athena off." She warned.

"I wouldn't ever do that but you have a deal. That is why I came to you to first." Faith said with a smile.

"If Tara knew you asked me for permission to date her, I don't think you would like the results." Shane commented with a smile as they walked back to their kitchen and Faith went straight to Tara's side.

"So, Tara, would you like to go out with me? It's cool if it's too soon or something and we can take it slow, if you do want to." The usually confident hybrid questioned and Tara laughed at her ramblings.

"Alright, Faith, what did you have in mind?" Tara answered with a smile.

"Um, I don't know. How does a movie and dinner sound? I know it's cheesy but this is a pretty small town." Faith responded with her own dimpled grin.

"We have two trucks if you guys want to get out of here for something. Well, the F-150 is a friend of mines but the other is in mine so take it but don't damage it." Shane interrupted as she went into her room and tossed her brunette roommate the keys.

AN: So, next week will be the date and other happenings then in two weeks I will do a musical chapter. Please keep thinking of things or episodes you would like to see done and remember to review. Also if you have any questions, please ask.


	24. Chapter 24

AN: I'm sorry that I haven't updated. I just got a job and have been too tired to write these last few days. So again, I'm sorry and BTVS doesn't belong to me.

"So, what did you think of the movie and where are we going, Faith?" Tara asked looking at the trees she had seen for the last five minutes.

"There's this place I found when I first came here. It was good but to be honest I wasn't really paying attention with you beside me." The brunette answers with a flirty smile.

"Smooth, Faith, very smooth." Tara laughed as they walked on the outer edges of town.

"That's just the way I am. Besides, who in their right mind could focus on anything when you're in the room?" Faith flattered the blonde witch causing her to blush.

"Wow, you really want to try and impress me. It is deeply appreciated." Tara said bending her head down a bit.

"Thanks, it just I've never done the whole monogamist relationship before so I want to make this last." Faith said pointing between them as she said this.

"That's really nice of you and don't worry I want this to last too." Tara grabbed and held Faith's hand to her chest.

A newly formed vampire jumped out of nowhere and spun Faith around to have his first victim. Faith snarled as she caught the new vamp in the jaw with a powerful right hook. The angry brunette kicked his stomach twice then slammed her elbow into his neck. He fell to the ground deeply injured as Faith staked him through the heart still with a scowl on her face.

"Stupid vamp. Ugh, this was going so well too." The demi-god groaned.

"It's still going well, Faith. He didn't ruin anything." Tara commented as she wrapped her arms around the brunette's neck from behind, resting her head on Faith's shoulder.

"I guess as long as you don't mind the occasional demon or vamp crashing our dates than we can have more." Faith smirked and Tara laughed.

"That's good 'cause it's either them or Shane. I would rather the Hellmouth; with them, you can make them go away." Tara semi-joked.

"That would just be weird. Hey, we're here." Faith said pointing to the ridge they had come across.

Tara thought the view was spectacular. From it, one could see all the lights and buildings from Sunnydale. Tara walked and sat down on the edge admiring the view of a city she truly could call her home. The brunette demi-god took the spot right next to her and threw her arm over the witch's shoulder. The blonde laid her head on Faith's shoulders at this gesture with Faith resting hers against Tara's.

"Wow, I'm surprised this isn't a make out spot." Tara commented surprisingly.

"It's further down the hills. Cars don't come up this far so they'd have to walk like we did." Faith answered.

"Faith," Tara took her head off of Faith's shoulders and looked in the demi-god's eyes, "Why do you like me?"

"I don't know much but I do know that you are the greatest person. You don't judge or really get angry about things. Plus, you didn't treat me like a monster even though you must have had a dozen chances." Faith replied with all seriousness keeping her eyes locked on Tara's.

"I can't believe how lucky I am." Tara leaned in and lightly pressed her lips to Faith's.

AN: I know it's short but next week will be longer and in a musical number. So, tell me what you think like are Faith and Tara moving too fast or anything really. Again, I'm sorry for the lack of updates.


	25. Chapter 25

AN: I just wanted to say that chapters won't be as regular as they were before. BTVS doesn't belong to me and neither will the songs.

After a weird night of patrolling where she randomly burst into song, Buffy called a meeting to discuss what could be going on in the town. Shane and Faith looked extremely uncomfortable with the new development. Shane was more worried about the two biggest things she had been keeping from the group as she adjusted her sunglasses. Faith worried that she would sing the wrong thing to Tara, with them having gone on only a few dates.

"Is it just us? 'Cause then that would mean a spell or something…" Anya trailed off as Buffy walked over to the door.

She opened the door and saw a large man with a beard holding a suit with others spread out behind him.

"_They got the mustard out!_" The man sang with the others echoing the same line.

"It's not just us." Buffy stated as she closed the door.

"So, should we research this or what? Has there had been anything like this before?" Faith questioned curiously.

"I guess we should." Buffy answered shrugging.

"Okay, well as much as I would love to just sit here, I'm going to lock myself in my room and wait till this passes." Shane said as she walked out the door with a smirk.

As she walked down the road, she started to hear the first bits of a song and cussed out loud about being drawn into such a stupid side effect of whatever was happening to the town.

"_Search for the answers I knew all along _

_I lost myself we all fall down _(she looked to the sky)

_Never the wiser of what I've become_

_Alone I stand a broken man _(the demi-god bowed her head and put a hand to her chest)

_All I have is one last chance_

_I won't turn my back on you _(Shane sang thinking of Buffy and the gang)

_Take my hand drag me down_

_If you fall then I will too_

_And I can't save what's left of you _(She thought of a certain memory she would rather keep down)

_Say something new _(stretching out her arms)

_I have nothing left_

_I can't face the dark without you _(putting her head into her hands)

_There's nothing left to lose_

_The fight never ends_

_I can't face the dark without you_

_Follow me under and pull me apart_

_I understand there's nothing left _(she collapses to the ground)

_Pain so familiar and close to the heart_

_No more no less I won't forget_

_Come back down save yourself_

_I can't find my way to you _(she thought of her loved ones as she sang)

_And I can't bare to face the truth_

_Say something new_

_I have nothing left_

_I can't face the dark without you _(her hands ran through her hair and stopped on her neck)

_There's nothing left to lose_

_The fight never ends _

_I can't face the dark without you_

_I wanted to forget_

_I'm trying to forget _(a few tears slipped from her coved eyes)

_Don't leave me here again_

_I am with you forever the end _(Shaking her head trying to reaffirm her belief)

_Say something new_

_I have nothing left_

_I can't face the dark without you_

_There's nothing left to lose_

_The fight never ends_

_I can't face the dark without you_

_Holding the hand that holds me down_

_I forgive you forget you the end_

_Holding the hand that holds me down_

_I forgive you forget you the end_." Shane finished her song and took off faster towards her house.

Back at the Magic Box, Faith was feeling restless and Tara thought that her brunette girlfriend might want to get out of there.

"I think there could be some books at the house. Come on, Faith." Tara said as she dragged Faith with her to the door.

They decided to take the long way to the home, stopping in the park. Faith liked seeing Tara look so relax but she was still trying not to open her mouth. She was so afraid of what she would sing to the blonde witch of her dreams. Tara looked back at the unusually quiet demi-god.

"Are you okay? You've been quiet today." Tara questioned slightly worried.

"Yeah, just don't want to start singing." Faith replied but as she finished they heard the music start and Faith groaned before starting.

"_Remember those walls I built_

_Well baby they tumbling down _(Faith blushed and looked own while Tara put a hand on her cheek)

_And they didn't even put up a fight_

_They didn't even make a sound_

_I found a way to ley you in _(The brunette grabbed the blonde's hand that was resting on her hand)

_But I never really had a doubt_

_Standing in the light of your halo_

_I got my angel now _(she looked straight into Tara's eyes)

_It's like I've been awakened_

_Every rule I had you breaking_

_It's the risk that I'm taking_

_I ain't never going to shut you out_

_Everywhere I'm looking now_

_I'm surrounded by your embrace_

_Baby I can see your halo _(Tara smiled at the tender words)

_You know you're my saving grace_

_You're everything I need and more_

_It's written all over your face_

_Baby I can feel your halo_

_Pray it won't fade away_

_I can feel your halo, halo, halo_

_I can see your halo, halo, halo_

_I can feel your halo, halo, halo_

_I can see your halo, halo, halo_

_Hit me like a ray of sun_

_Burning through the darkest night_

_You're the only one that I want_

_Think I'm addicted to your light_

_I swore I'd never fall again_

_But this don't even feel like falling _(Faith pulled their linked hands over her heart)

_Gravity can't forget_

_So pull me back to the ground again_

_Feels like I've been awakened_

_Every rule I had you breaking_

_The risk that I'm taking_

_I'm never going to shut you out_

_Everywhere I'm looking now_

_I'm surrounded by your embrace_

_Baby I can see your halo_

_You know you're my saving grace_

_You're everything I need and more_

_It's written all over your face._

_Baby I can feel your halo_

_Pray it won't fade away_

_I can feel your halo, halo, halo_

_I can see your halo, halo, halo_

_I can feel your halo, halo, halo_

_I can see your halo, halo, halo_

_Halooo, haloo_

_Everywhere I'm looking now_

_I'm surrounded by your embrace_

_Baby I can see your halo_

_You know you're my saving grace_

_You're everything I need and more_

_It's written all over your face_

_Baby I can feel your halo_

_Pray it won't fade away_." Faith finished pulling Tara into a deep kiss.

"Oh, this is so boring." Buffy complained from her seat at the round table with a book in her lap.

"I seriously doubt that there is anything in these books." Xander said throwing the book he had onto the table.

Dawn was near the back of the store when she spotted a cool necklace and discretely picked it up. No one noticed Dawn's quick hand work but Buffy stood from her chair and announced that she was going to try and find some info from other demons. She told Dawn to stay here until Anya or Xander could take her home. Buffy decided that she would enjoy some of the day before she went to the seedier parts of Sunnydale. She found Faith and Tara still locked in a passionate kiss and cleared her throat behind the two.

"So, find those books you were looking for?" Buffy asked rhetorically causing Tara to blush deeply.

"B, you wouldn't be so uptight about this if you just got off your damn high horse and admit you like a certain demi-goddess of war, whose tags you still haven't given back." Faith shot back with a smirk.

"_If there's a prize for rotten judgment_

_I guess I've already won that _(Buffy sighed)

_No man is worth the aggravation_

_That's ancient history_

_Been there done that _(Buffy said with finality and Faith and Tara chimed in)

_Who'd you think you're kidding_

_She's the earth and heaven to you_

_Try to keep it hidden_

_Honey we can see right through you_

_We know how you feel and who you're thinking of _(Buffy blushed grabbing the new tags)

_No chance No way_

_I won't say_

_No, no _(Faith and Tara interrupt again)

_you swoon you sigh_

_why deny it uh-oh _(Buffy denies forcefully)

_It's too cliché_

_I won't say I'm in love_

_I thought my heart had learned its lesson_

_It feels so good when you start out_

_My head is screaming get a grip girl _(Buffy grabs her head)

_Unless you're dying to cry your heart out _(The couple start their next verse)

_You keep on denying_

_Who you are and how you're feeling_

_Baby we're not buying_

_Hon we saw you hit the ceiling_

_Face it like a grown up_

_When you going to own up_

_That you got, got, got it bad _(Back to Buffy)

_No chance No way_

_I won't say it_

_No. no _(Faith and Tara proceed)

_Give up but give in_

_Check the grin you're in love _(Buffy denies it again)

_This scene won't play_

_I won't say I'm in love _(The two become more forceful)

_You're doing flips_

_Read our lips: you're in love _(Buffy shakes her head at the accusation)

_You're way off base_

_I won't say it_

_Get off my case_

_I won't say it _(Faith and Tara try again)

_Girl don't be proud_

_It's okay you're in love _(Buffy lowered her head in defeat)

_Oooohhh _

_At least out loud_

_I won't say_

_I'm in love_." Buffy sang the last bit with a sigh.

"Hate to break it to you, B. you just did." Faith broke the slayers thoughts.

"Oh, back off, Faith. I'm heading to beat up some demons for info." Buffy huffed away.

As she got closer to the demon bar, she bumped into the last person she thought she would see that day. Shane had been feeling restless just trying to avoid singing and decided to hit up demons for information. She didn't expect to run into the blonde haired girl of her dreams while Buffy hadn't wanted to see the demi-god so soon after her sung confession. Shane opened her mouth to talk but music started up and suddenly she was singing again.

"_I hate feeling like this_

_I'm so tired of trying to fight this _(She sighed tiredly)

_I'm asleep and all I dream of is waking to you_

_Tell me that you will listen _(Shane pleads desperately)

_You're touch is what I'm missing _(Reaching out to grab the blonde's hand)

_And the more I hide I realize_

_I'm slowly losing you_

_Comatose_

_I'll never wake up without an overdose_

_Of you _(Shane looked straight into Buffy's eyes)

_I don't wanna live_

_I don't wanna breathe_

'_Les I feel you next to me_

_You take the pain I feel_

_Waking up to you never felt so real_

_I don't wanna sleep_

_I don't wanna dream_

'_Cause my dreams don't comfort me _(She shakes her head like trying to get rid of a nightmare)

_The way you make me feel_

_Waking up to you never felt so real_

_I hate living without you_

_Dead wrong to ever doubt you_

_But my demons lay in waiting _(pointing to her head)

_Tempting me away_

_Oh how I adore you _

_Oh how I thirst for you_

_Oh how I need you_

_Comatose_

_I'll never wake up without an overdose_

_Of you_

_I don't wanna live_

_I don't wanna breathe_

'_Les I feel you next to me _(She sang with an even more serious voice)

_You take the pain I feel_

_Waking up to you never felt so real_

_I don't wanna sleep_

_I don't wanna dream_

'_Cause my dreams don't comfort me _(Shane closes her eyes)

_The way you make me feel_

_Waking up to you never felt so real_

_Breathing life_

_Waking up_

_My eyes open up _(The demi-god opens her eyes back up with a defeated look)

_Comatose_

_I'll never wake up without an overdose_

_Of you_

_I don't wanna live_

_I don't wanna breathe_

'_Les I feel you next to me_

_You take the pain I feel_

_Waking up to you never felt so real_

_I don't wanna sleep_

_I don't wanna dream_

'_Cause my dreams don't comfort me_

_The way you make me feel_

_Waking up to you never felt so real_

_Oh how I adore you_

_Waking up to you never felt so real_

_Oh how I thirst for you_

_Waking up to you never felt so real_

_Oh how I adore you_

_The way you make me feel_

_Waking up to you never felt so real_." Shane sang the last bit pulling Buffy into a brief kiss before she realized what she was doing and then took off.

Faith and Tara were sitting in the brunette's bedroom. After the positive reaction Tara had to her song, Faith relaxed and was holding Tara to her. They heard some soft music start and Tara started singing just staring into Faith's eyes.

"_Every time our eyes meet_

_This feeling inside me_

_Is almost more than I can take _(Faith cupped Tara's chin)

_Baby when you touch me_

_I can feel how much you love me_

_And it just blows me away_

_I've never been this close to anyone_

_Or anything_

_I can hear your thoughts_

_I can see your dreams_

_I don't know how you do what you do_

_I'm so in love with you _(they both smiled widely at her confession)

_It just keep getting better_

_I wanna spend the rest of my life_

_With you by my side_

_Forever and ever_

_Every little thing that you do_

_Baby I'm amazed by you_

_The smell of your skin_

_The taste of your kiss _(The blonde gave Faith a small peck)

_The way you whisper in the dark_

_Your hair all around me_

_Baby you surround me_

_And touch every place in my heart_

_Oh it feels like the first time_

_Every time_

_I wanna spend the whole night_

_In your eyes_

_I don't know how you do what you do_

_I'm so in love with you_

_It just keeps getting better_

_I wanna spend the rest of my life_

_With you by my side_

_Forever and ever_

_Every little thing that you do_

_Baby I'm amazed by you _(Faith pulled Tara into a tight embrace as the blonde continued to sing into her ear)

_Every little thing that you do_

_I'm so in love with you_

_It just keeps getting better_

_I wanna spend the rest of my life_

_With you by my side_

_Forever and ever_

_Every little thing that you do_

_Ooohh_

_Every little thing that you do_

_Baby I'm amazed by you_." Tara blushed when she finished and Faith gave her a kiss.

"You amaze me too, Tara." Faith honestly smiled.

That night, they supposedly stopped the bad guy, Sweet. The necklace Dawn found in the Magic Box was the guy's talisman and he was going to take her to the underworld. When this was mentioned that it had to be one of them, Xander raised his hand and gulpingly asked if he had to be Sweet's queen. The fashionably dressed red demon laughed it off as tempting but left without taking anyone. As the big group number went on, Shane left out the door followed shortly by Buffy. Buffy turned the demi-god around and took off the sunglasses she had been wearing all the time lately. The blonde gasped at the dark red eyes that greeted her. They were still feeling the last of the effects so they softly sang.

"_The way you make me feel_."

"_I won't say I'm in love_."

They sang just shortly before they collided in a heated kiss.

AN: So tell me what you think. In order the name of the songs and who sings them: Without you by Breaking Benjamin, Halo by Beyonce, I won't say I'm in love by Meg and the Muses from Disney's Hercules, Comatose by Skillet, and Amazed by Lonestar. Every song is one I listen to daily except the Beyonce song that one I just found while searching YouTube. Please be honest when you review because even I'm not sure this is the best I could have done.


	26. Chapter 26

AN: Thank you for your reviews. I realize that I could have done a better job if I actually watched Musicals. I'm sorry it's been so long since I updated.

Buffy knocked on the door of the house she had been avoiding for the last two weeks. After the kiss, the blonde slayer was worried about if a relationship with the demi-god was what she really wanted or just something the spell brought on. She knew deep down it wasn't the demon but since the spell Shane had yet to come and talk to her. Now, Buffy came to talk to the older woman. The Californian didn't receive an answer and assumed that Shane was asleep or training with music on she walked into the front room.

A few moments later and Buffy coming to the conclusion that no one was home, Shane walked in the door humming a song and Buffy was watching in amusement. The dark blonde was unaware of her guest as she was pulling up a muddy, red, long sleeved shirt with a white tank top. In fact, the only part of the demi-god was her eyes that were still covered by sunglasses.

"Nice to see you own something with sleeves other than you jacket." Buffy chuckled startling Shane.

"What are you doing here?" the demi-goddess smiled and removed her sunglasses showing slightly dimmer red eyes.

"I wanted to talk with you but first what's the deal with your eyes?" the blonde asked curiously.

"Um, can we come back to that? I want to know what you want to talk about first." Shane avoided afraid of what Buffy wanted to say.

"I haven't seen you since we kissed and I want to know if you really want to be with me." Buffy started off.

"Buffy, I do want to date you but after we kissed and you backed off I wanted to give you some space to think about what you wanted." The dark blonde grabbed the slayer's hand and pulled her into passionate kiss but before it could go farther Buffy pulled back.

"I hope you don't mind if we go slow." The blonde blushed.

"That's great 'cause I've not had much experience with relationships." Shane commented and then sighed. "I guess you want to know about my eyes now."

"Yeah, they seem dimmer than two weeks ago." Buffy stated and both sat down on one of the couches.

"It's a 'side effect' of being a child of war. When we are enraged or near our father, our eyes turn red and we have a need to fight and destroy. I don't know what's causing my eyes to be like this. My father isn't near and I'm not nearly pissed off enough for them to get this color." the demi-god leaned back on the couch letting her head rest and closed her eyes while Buffy grabbed her hand.

"Do you still feel that you need a fight?" The slayer asked.

"Yes but that is what the wolf tattoo is for. It helps keep the urges down. All of us have one." Shane explained and Buffy started rubbing her shoulder. "Look at this, been a couple for all of five minutes and you are already comforting me." She said trying to lighten the mood.

"Anyway, what are we doing tonight?" Buffy laid her head down on the demi-god shoulder.

"Well, would you like to go out tonight?" Shane questioned nervously and Buffy sat up straight looking back at her with wide excited eyes.

"Yes, of course I would." The blonde Californian lean forward to kiss her but stopped herself seeing the dark blonde was still dirty. "Why are you so dirty in the first place?"

"Would you believe me if I said I was digging a cellar so I could kill demons possessing humans because God told me to?" The demi-god laughed then at Buffy's confused look she laughed harder, "You've never seen Frailty. Seriously though, I was just out in the woods working on trying to get my eyes back to their original color and I fell in a mud hole."

"Wow, graceful much." Buffy laughed.

"So, if we're going out tonight you might want to get ready. I know how you girls are." Shane laughed again as Buffy jumped from the couch and ran to the door, just stopping in time to yell bye.

AN: So, tell me what you think and review. I promise it will be longer next time. Also, if there are any suggestions please make them.


	27. Chapter 27

AN: Sorry it has taken so long to update but real world encroached on me and I had to deal with a lot of shit and I'm deeply sorry that the last chapter was so short. Anyway BTVS doesn't belong to me. This is set the same day as last chapter.

Tara walked across the campus UC Sunnydale. She was thinking deeply about her relationship with the once rouge slayer. '_I can't believe how much different she seems since the first time I met her. She still has that hard edge about her but she is so smart underneath that bravado. I wonder what to get her for her Birthday. I know its a few months away but I can't think of anything that would really show her how I feel._' The blonde witch jumped when feels a pair of arms wrap themselves around her waist. She smiles back at the demi-goddess.

"Wow, you were thinking so hard you didn't even hear me call your name." Faith gave a dimpled smile at her girlfriend. "Have you eaten yet?"

"No, for some reason, I forgot my lunch today and left my money at the house." Tara flirted giving her a little peck on the lips.

"Hey, it's not my fault that we woke up late this morning." The brunette responded moving to hold the Wicca's hand.

"Oh, I think it is your fault. Someone kept me up all night with her wild stories. So, I believe you owe me lunch." The blonde witch suggests with a smirk.

"Hm, okay, but only if you go out with me tonight." Faith accepts.

"Alright, now where should we eat?" Tara asks.

After having lunch with her blonde Wicca, Faith walks in their house with a huge smile on her face. Shane notices her brunette roommate's smile as she exits the bathroom, throwing a tank top over her head, she walks towards Faith.

"Do I even want to know why you have this huge ass smile on your face?" the dark blonde questioned sarcastically.

"Nothing like that happened, Ass. We just went to lunch and we are go to go out tonight." Faith laughed then turned serious. "I don't know what it is about her but being near her just makes me stop thinking."

"It means she is the one for you, which is why I haven't tried to kill you." Shane smiles at the demi-god hybrid. "Now, we are at a dilemma, as I asked Buffy out tonight."

"No shit, you mean, you finally plucked up some courage and asked the obviously mutually interested blonde for a date." The brunette smirked.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, laugh it up. So, what are we doing about tonight?" the demi-god wondered lowering her head at the thought of having to cancel her date with the beautiful blonde of her dreams.

"Well, it's been dead lately so I say we should be fine. On a more serious matter, I'm glad that you and B are together, now maybe Spike will back off." Faith comments with a little frown.

"Wait, Spike is doing what?" Shane snaps her head up to the brunette's.

Across town, Buffy walks into her home with a genuine happy smile on her face. Dawn gave her a weird look when her older sister passed her and greeted her while messing up her hair. Joyce was surprised but happy to see her oldest daughter so excited after what seems like a like a long time. As Buffy was pouring herself a drink, the youngest Summers spoke up.

"What has you so happy today?" Dawn blurted out.

"I've got a date tonight, not that it's any of your business." The blonde slayer grinned.

"Well, that's great sweetie. I'm glad you're finally getting back out there." Joyce said.

"Yeah, I guess, all I needed was to know was another good one out there. One I wasn't going to drive away." Buffy commented with a little grin.

"So, who is this mystery date?" the only brunette Summers questioned.

"Oh, um, Shane." The last sole chosen looked down as she answered.

"Wait, Shane McClay. Looks like Xander owes Anya twenty dollars." Dawn laughed causing Buffy's head to snap up.

"Was I that obvious?" Buffy shrieked.

"Only to everybody that wasn't a demi-god of war." The youngest Summers walked off laughing at the look on her older sister's face.

"So, Mom, you haven't said anything." The younger blonde stated with worry clouding her voice.

"It may not be what I would have thought would make you this happy but she does and she will protect you. How can I fault that." Joyce answered honestly with a smile putting her daughter at ease.

Buffy got up from her seat and hugged her mother. Joyce returned the hug and as Buffy separated she looked back to being worried

"Oh my god, I have a date tonight. What am I going to wear?" The blonde exclaims fleeing from the kitchen with Joyce chuckling.

Later that night and after having a romantic dinner in, Buffy and Shane had, per Shane's request, gone for a walk. Buffy had been really enjoying the night. Shane had attempted to make lasagna but was soon pushed from the kitchen by Tara. As they were about to leave the house, the blonde slayer stopped and turned to face her date.

"Okay, I have put up with these long enough." Buffy said before she took Shane's dark sunglasses off her face and tucked them into her dark blue button up shirt. "I want to be able to look you in the eyes when we talk."

The dark blonde demi-god made the blonde follow her, saying she wanted Buffy to see something special. As they were walking, the new couple bumped into Faith and Tara. They heard a cry of pain in the distance and ran to it. When they turned the corner, there was only a red headed woman that seemed to be injured badly by something. Buffy approached the injured woman while Shane's face distorted into suspicion. The blonde slayer was almost in touching distance when the woman morphed into a giant lion. It lunged at Buffy but she was thrown back by Shane and the lion's claws got her arm badly. Faith charged trying to drive the knife; she carried for emergencies, only to watch as it bounced off its golden coat.

"It's the Nemean Lion. You can't penetrate its coat." The demi-god of war grunted out.

'_If it can't be hurt from the outside, then its inside must be the weakness._' Faith quickly thinks then shouts, "Hold its mouth open."

Shane, ignoring the pain, and Buffy rush forward desperately grab the jaws of the jerking monster. They try devoting all their strength to opening the mouth far enough that Faith could throw her knife into the back of the monster's throat. Finally getting a firm grip on the lips, they pull them apart but before the brunette can throw the knife an arrow flies past her head and imbeds itself, killing the Nemean Lion. It disintegrates leaving only the pelt behind where it had stood. Looking behind them, Shane immediately knows who the strangely dressed females all are and before she loses consciousness she got out one last sentence.

"Awe, this fucking sucks." She falls into darkness.

AN: Please review. I'm sorry I took so long and that I had such a horrible last chapter. If you have questions, please ask.


	28. Chapter 28

AN: Thank you for your reviews. BTVS doesn't belong to me.

"Who are you?" Faith asked as the group blocked the unconscious form of Shane.

"It doesn't matter human. We came here to take Shane." The apparent leader answered moving uncaring towards her objective.

"It does matter and she isn't going anywhere." Buffy snarled standing and getting into the face of the older woman.

"Guys, we should get her to the Magic Box fast. This wound needs to be looked at." Tara spoke with her sister's head resting in her lap as she tries to stop the bleeding.

"Zoe, Zeus wants her alive. I don't think that she would survive the trip back." A black haired teenager advised from behind her leader looking genuinely concerned.

"Fine but once she is cared for and, Artemis forbid, conscious she comes with us." Zoe glared at the group as she step away from the blonde slayers face.

It was an uncomfortable trek to the Magic Box with Faith carrying Shane. When they entered the small shop, Faith set the still unconscious demi-god on the table and Giles went to work on stitching her arm in four places. The Scoobies turned back to the group of women standing in front of them.

"Now, tell us who you are and why you want Shane?" Buffy assumed her usual role as leader

"We do not answer to you human and the matter that you want to address is of no concern." Zoe's answers were pissing off the group of demon fighters.

"It does matter when it concerns my girlfriend." Buffy yelled at the Hunter's second in command.

"Fuck Ares, that hurts." Shane's voice interrupted the tanned woman's reply.

"Good, you're awake. Stand up, you are wanted on Olympus." The lieutenant ordered.

"I'm sorry I think I hit my head or something 'cause I could have sworn you just ordered me to do something, Nightshade." The dark blonde demi-god stood unsteadily.

"You are in no position to make to make jokes. We should not be having this conversation with mortals in the room." Zoe's eyes burned with hate as she stared at the daughter of Ares.

"Wow, you've gotten sloppy in your old age. The brunette behind me is another demi-god and the blonde in front of you is a slayer, one of the best. So, take your new pelt and go back to Artemis." Shane stepped up into the Hunter's face.

"You are wanted by The Olympian Court for theft of a god's power." The dark haired woman explained and, what happened next shocked everyone in the room, the usually confident face of the dark blonde's paled.

"Tha-that's bull shit. They don't send the Hunters for missions like these." She stammered in the beginning but regained her confidence.

"Yes, but your former teammates did not want to believe what they were hearing and we would be in the region. Without your tags on, it was too easy." Zoe smirked.

"Shane, what's going on?" A confused Buffy asked.

"I'm pretty much being charged with treason and the twelve gods on Olympus want to put me to death for that." Shane explained shakily. "I didn't steal anything."

"Now, tell me where the sword is so we can return quickly?" The lieutenant interrogated.

"Wait, whose sword? My father's?" The demi-god looked deeply confused. "Now, I know you're an idiot."

"You are the only one who could've taken it." One of the other members of the Hunters ran up and stood next to the two.

"You must be new or you would know you don't get in mine and Nightshade's way." The dark blonde growled at the new comer.

"Grace, get back. Fine, if you will not come freely then I have no choice, Monster." Zoe threw a sudden jab and Shane had just enough time to block it, unfortunately, with the arm that had been injured against the lion.

The demi-god could feel herself losing control as she didn't feel the pain of her arm. The immortal jabbed her solar-plex then drove a knee into her gut but Shane caught her knee and tossed her over her back. Zoe kip-upped and threw the dark blonde over the circular table into the book case on the other side. Shane launched herself back over the table tackling the Hunter to the ground and started to punch her face with quick strikes. Zoe managed to flip the hold and went for the ribs with her right fist while the other held the Nemean Lion's wound on her enemies arm. The demi-god drove her head into the woman's nose causing Zoe to loosen her grip and Shane to punch her jaw with her now free hands then shove her off of her. As the two went to charge again, a bolt of lightning smashed into the shop floor between the hot heads and sending them back a couple of feet.

"ENOUGH!" A loud voice like thunder boomed near where the bolt had struck.

Everybody in the room looked to see the black haired teen that had tried to diffuse the situation earlier. This time her eyes had sparks of electricity going off in them. She looked deadly standing there like she was about to launch another bolt considering Shane was still struggling in Buffy's grasp.

"You two should be mature enough to know that this is childish. Zoe, you've lived for thousands of years and, Shane, you know damn well what happens when you lose control." Her voice had a ting of disappointment. "Zoe, maybe you and the sisters should go outside and I will deal with this."

"Fine, we will be outside." The scolded lieutenant walked out of the small shop with the rest following her.

"Shane, are you okay?" Buffy asked worriedly as Shane was still struggling but the enraged demi-god stilled suddenly when she caught the blonde's worried eyes.

"I'm better now, Buffy." Shane smiled but then sighed, "You know I didn't do this, Amanda."

"Of course, I do, Shane. All you have ever done was what you thought was best for Olympus just don't lose control again or I'll shock you worse than I did when you broke my sister's heart." Amanda grinned.

"Ugh, now, what?" The demi-god groaned. "I doubt your dad is going to just let this all go."

"Well, it's kind of obvious you don't have your father's sword or else you would have used it already. I'm not going to let you die for something you didn't do but be on the lookout. Not many people could have taken it." Amanda said as she left the building.

"So, Buff, when did you and Shane start dating?" Xander turned to his friend.

AN: So, tell me what you think and review. Please feel free to question or make suggestions about the story.


	29. Chapter 29

AN: Thank you for your reviews. BTVS doesn't belong to me.

***Shane's Dream***

The landscape that stretched out before her seemed worse than the Underworld. The sky was pitch black with the ground dried up and rivers of blood flowed. All she could see was blurry figures and her hand that held a very familiar sword. It was a two handed blade with a skull on the hilt and the blade was black with blood running down it. As if she was mindless, Shane attacked one figure after the next but for some reason she felt that she should try to stop.

"No, stop, DAMN IT, STOP!" She screamed as she stabbed through the last shadow and it faded to Buffy.

Shane bolted up from her bed and gritted her teeth trying not to scream out. She ran shaky hands through her damp dark blonde hair. '_Oh Ares, what in the hell was that? It must just be a reaction to the news that Dad's sword was taken. I should have seen it before. Increased unrest and my eyes, it's the swords effect on the world._' She was snapped out of her thought by a knock on her door before Buffy entered the room.

"Hey, sorry if I woke you up but I wanted to see you before me and Faith go out." The blonde greeted and sat down next to her on the bed immediately Shane pulled her into her.

"No need to apologize, Buffy. I just woke up actually. So, what are you and Faith doing?" The demi-god asked kissing the top of Buffy's head as the slayer laid her head on Shane's shoulder.

"I think going shopping for Tara's birthday gift. We will be back later so don't worry.

While that was going on, in the kitchen Tara was watching Faith clean up after breakfast. The brunette had been determined not to let her girlfriend clean up after having made the food.

"So, what are you and Buffy doing again?" Tara wondered.

"Oh, some slayer thing." Faith stated trying sound offhanded but the blonde Wiccan didn't look convinced so when the brunette hybrid turned around she corrected herself, "Damn, fine I'm going to get your present and B is coming along so you and Shane get some sibling time."

"Faith, ready to go?" Buffy questioned as she walked into the room with Shane following behind her.

"Yeah, I'm all done here." The brunette said as she walked around the counter and gave Tara a kiss good-bye. "I'll see you later."

"So, any breakfast left?" Shane looked around for some food.

"Sorry, I only made enough for Faith and me. We knocked on your door to see if you wanted some but you didn't answer so we thought you might need the sleep." Tara explained. "What do you want to do today since you are free?"

"I think we should really talk. I feel like I haven't really tried to talk with you since I came back in your life. So, ask any question?" her young sister looked down as she thought.

"Why didn't you come back?" she asked in a small voice. "Did you just not want to see us again?"

"No, no, I-I-I di-didn't think…." Shane paused and kept taking deep breaths trying not to break down. "I didn't think you or Mom would want to see me again not after what that bastard did."

"You didn't even come to Mom's funeral. Why would you stay away if you knew what was happening? You could have stopped him. You could have protected us but you didn't care!" Tara shouted and the object of her anger felt like she had been stabbed.

"Damn it, I do care! You and Mom were all I thought about after I went to Olympus! I attacked Ares after I found out what the bastard was doing blaming him for what I saw!" She kept trying to calm down before she continued, "After I regained consciousness, I believed that it was my fault. When Ares told me mom died, my first thought was that she died hating me and I continued to believe you hated me too."

"Then, why did you leave in the first place? Mom told me you had a choice to go or not. Why did you decide that leaving was the best option?" The calming blonde asked.

"When Ares took me aside that day, he told me that I would be putting my family in danger if I didn't come with and that monsters love untrained demi-gods. So, I left with him to keep you and Mom safe." Shane snorted. "Like that did me any good. I'll understand it of you want me to leave you alone now.

"I-I-I I don't want you to go again. I'm sor…"

"Please, don't apologize for feeling something." The demi-god stated looking into Tara's eyes and, seeing she was about to cry, Shane hugged her little sister tightly. "I do love you, Tara"

Across town at the mall, Buffy and Faith were searching through two stores for something Tara might like. They had separated to cover more ground and so that they didn't end up liking the same thing to get her. Buffy was looking at a rack of blouses she thought the blonde Wicca might like when her arms were pulled into a hold behind her back that she couldn't get out of. Her capturer turned the slayer in the direction of a sandy blonde haired woman wearing black leather pants and a yellow tank top. Buffy felt a chill run down her spine, when the woman's crazed smile was on her.

"You must be the latest model. Oh, don't worry; we have a friend in common." The mysterious woman pulled a slip of paper or something out of the pockets and slipped it into Buffy's. when she pulled her hand out, she took her time running her hand up the slayer's body and what she whispered in her ear stunned her so much that they had time to leave with only one message, "Tell Shane, Tiffany says hi."

AN: Tell me what you think and please review. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask.


	30. Chapter 30

AN: Sorry it took so long to get a new chapter up. Thank you for the reviews and please don't stop reading on account that I am an idiot. BTVS doesn't belong to me.

Buffy was pacing back in forth in front of where she was supposed to meet Faith. After standing in the same store starring at nothing for a bit longer, Buffy absently grabbed a light blue blouse to give as a present, paid, and left. The dark haired slayer approached the pacing blonde with caution and stopped her with an apprehensive hand on her shoulder. Buffy jumped and spun quickly thinking she was under attack but stop when she saw her friend.

"B, what happened? Why are you so jumpy?" The brunette demi-god wondered.

"Am I cursed or something?" The California native asked but went on without letting Faith answer, "I mean, why is it that when I'm happy the person I'm dating has too have some sort of secret that they just have to keep from me?"

"Okay, B, what are you talking about?" Faith questioned trying to get an actual answer out of the blonde.

"I was in this store when someone grabbed me from behind and there was this crazy bitch in front of me. She handed me this." Buffy handed the paper over before continuing, "She told me to give Shane a message."

Faith looked at an old news article about an archeologist's murder. At the top of the page, there was Shane's name written in pen. The brunette was looking between the page and buffy like the blonde was crazy.

"Really, B, this chick just hands you this and you believe it?" Faith looked skeptical.

"It would make sense, wouldn't it? Look at my track recorded with relationships, every one of them had some sort of dark secret that they kept from me." The blonde slayer was trying to explain.

"Come on, Buffy. I just think maybe you should ask Shane about this before you go assuming this was correct and distance yourself from her." The brunette was trying to reason with her counterpart.

"No, I don't want to know if this is real or not. I just want to forget this." Buffy grabbed the paper tore it up and threw it in a nearby garbage can. "Now, let's go."

Back at the house, the siblings were sitting in silence going over their previous conversation. They had come to grips on their past and were now just contemplating how to move forward. Finally, Tara had a question that had bugged her for a while.

"If you only had to stay until you were eighteen, then what did you do after that?"

"Oh, just helped with retrieval of lost Olympian items." Shane vaguely explained.

"Like archeology?" The Wiccan wondered wanting more information.

"No, nothing like that. Sometimes researchers would pull up actual God artifacts' so the big three selected people to go and get them back. Basically, we go in take the real one and leave a fake behind in its place. Sometimes they had us tracking down the criminals of our world and they got a little crazy with the plans." The demi-god smiled at the end.

"Why'd stop, well I assume you stopped?" Tara asked and her sister's smile seemed to disappear.

"I have but I don't want to get into that. I'll be right back." Shane stood up from the table and walked down the hall a bit, leaving the blonde to look sorrowfully at her.

A few days later, the gang was celebrating Tara's birthday at the Magic Box. Joyce had made the blonde a cake and Giles decorated the shop after closing. Tara sat in a chair opening presents from her new family. There were only two gifts left for her to open and Shane handed over a very thin package. Inside were two tickets for a flight to New York.

"Oh, wow, Shane." Tara looked up at her older sister astonished.

"Yeah well, you and Faith could use the time to yourselves but there is one condition. Faith must speak to Athena again." Shane explained.

"Thank you, Shane." The blonde witch turned to her girlfriend and smiled sweetly.

Faith shakily handed her a jewelry case and watched as Tara starred at the silver metaled bracelet with a white pentagram charm on it next to an owl charm. Tara stood from her chair and wrapped her arms around her worried girlfriend's neck. She gave a big smile before kissing Faith deeply.

"I love it, Faith." The brunette put it on Tara's wrist before giving the blonde a full dimpled smile. "Not to sound rude, I truly love this, but what does the owl mean?"

"It's Athena's patron animal so basically that is me, in essence." Faith answered nervous again.

"So, I will always have you with me. I love it even more." Tara kissed her again both smiling happily.

As the night wore on, the gang sat back and laughed having a great time. Buffy was still a bit on edge around Shane, who noticed something was wrong. Near the end, Joyce pulled the young woman her daughter was dating aside to have a chat. Shane glanced around the room to make sure nothing was wrong before focusing her attention on the eldest Summers.

"Is there something wrong, Mrs. Summers?" Shane asked worried.

"No, I just want to know what you want out of dating my daughter. So?" Joyce motioned for the dark blonde to answer.

"I don't want anything other than the way she makes me feel. It's like for once in my life everything is going to be okay as long as Buffy will keep me." The demi-god answered with a slight smile and faraway look in her eyes.

"Wow, I have to say you answered that with more passion than I thought you would but we will have to see if you can stay up to that statement." The elder blonde walked away leaving a confused young woman behind.

Meanwhile, the two twins were walking through the town in an alley arguing.

"Shut it, Alec, I aim to have fun with this. It's inevitable that we will get what we want." Tiffany snapped with an even crazier smile.

"I will only take so much more of your games." Alec stated with a cold voice.

"Games? We love games." A voice from behind them brought the duo back to their surroundings with five vampires in a circle around them.

"Oh great, I hate vampires." The blonde female pouted before snapping off with a kick to the head of the one in front of her.

Three rushed at the man of the group but he kicked breaking the knee of one. The other two continued their charge and Alec took a jab to the ribs because of stopping the kick to his head. Holding one vamp's leg in his arms, he swung the vampire into its partner. It kept them down long enough to break a crate and grabbing stakes, tossing one to his sister, before he took out his. Tiffany caught her stake without looking and ducked one of the hits coming her way. The kick had hit her to her midsection and she broke the vampire's ankle in retaliation before focusing her attacks on the one that spoke. She jabbed him in the throat then gave a right hook head with both down she staked them both.

"This is why I want to get this over with fast." Alec's voice was unaffected by the fight.

AN: Please review and again I am sorry that it took so long to update. If you have questions or requests, please don't hesitate.


	31. Chapter 31

AN: Parts of this chapter will have sex in it but if you would like to skip it I'll mark it with a **XXX** at the beginning and end. I've never been to New York so I'm sorry if I offend anyone. BTVS doesn't belong to me.

Faith and Tara stepped into the lobby of the hotel, which was pretty isolated. The lobby was nicely furnished with some couches and chairs for waiting costumers a high ceiling giving the next two floors a view into the lobby along the walls had ancient Greek themed paintings off to the side you can see the beginnings of a large dining area and out the big back window there was a manmade lake. The couple approached the front desk and was greeted by a light blonde haired woman, who looked to be in her mid-20s, wearing a light blue blouse and tight blue jeans. Faith nearly paused when she felt the demi-god in front of her.

"Hello, welcome to the Crystal Lightning Hotel. The only hotel made for the Gods." She greeted with a smile. "I'm Haley."

"Hey, I'm Faith and this is Tara. We have a reservation under the name Lehane." The brunette informed. "Nice place here."

"Yeah, it's pretty cool and made so us and the gods can relax away from Mount Olympus." Haley said as she typed on the computer in front of her before looking up again, "Hey, I know who you are now. You're the people McClay called about so no charge."

"Wow, how did that happen?" Tara asked curiously.

"Athena paid for your room actually and Shane asked for a type of room." A new voice from behind the group commented.

"Hey, you're that one chick that tried to take Shane." Faith pointed out angrily causing the woman to chuckle.

"No, that was my sister. I'm Rachel and the owner of this place." She said still chuckling and walked behind the desk.

"Alright, I'm sure you don't want to hear our life story right now so you have room 304. Here is your key and we're supposed to tell you that we have a private dining room for your meeting with Athena tomorrow at noon and have a good week." The light blonde stated handing over the key.

After saying their goodbyes, the couple walked to the elevator and found their room. The room had a queen size bed with navy blue sheets and dark red pillows in front of a TV also a small kitchen area and a door that lead to a large bathroom. Faith tossed her bag on the floor before flopping down onto the bed, sighing as she relaxed. Tara smiled and giggled a bit as she watched the brunette wiggle on the bed to get comfortable. Once her girlfriend stopped her movements, the blonde Wicca joined her curling into Faith's side.

"It's great to finally get away from SunnyD for a bit." Faith commented with a small smile starring at the ceiling.

"Yeah, plus we get the week before your birthday just the two of us." Tara lifted her head to block Faith's view of the ceiling.

"Best birthday ever." The brunette's full dimpled smile proved her happiness.

"You know, we're alone in a room with no Shane to maybe hear us…" The blonde trailed off raising an eyebrow at the woman beneath her.

"You sure?" Faith asked seriously.

"I am, are you?" Her questioned was answered with the brunette rolling on top of her and kissing her passionately.

"Most definitely." She answered after breaking a part while resting her forehead against the woman's beneath her.

**XXX**

Faith leaned down and captured Tara's lips again. Her hand moved up under the blonde's shirt causing Tara to moan into her soon to be lover's mouth. The brunette deepened the kiss with her tongue invading the mouth. Tara grabbed the back of Faith's head in pleasure and both moaned when the brunette' hand reached the bra covered breast and began caressing it. Faith's mouth made a trail down the blonde's neck stopping at her pulse point to suck at the skin there causing Tara to gasp and jerk into the body above her.

Tara flipped them so she was straddling the brunette, much to her surprise, and tore the long sleeved shirt from herself, tossing it behind her. She dove eagerly back to Faith's mouth before following the identical path the demi-god had made on her with her love cussing and moaning the whole way. Tara removed Faith's shirt before kissing along the lines of the brunette's bra and Faith's hand trailed up her back, running along the spine, causing her to arch more into the body beneath her. Feeling her bra come unhooked, she sat back up and pulled it off flinging it in a random direction. Faith saw an opportunity to turn the tables and she flipped them back over.

She took one of the newly free breasts into her mouth while her hand played with the other before switching. Tara was grinding into Faith's stomach and unclipping her lover's bra causing the brunette to pull away from her previous position. After tossing her bra over her shoulder, Faith trailed her lips down the blonde's stomach while her hands trailed up Tara's outer thighs before unbuttoning her blue jeans. As the brunette pulled the jeans down along with the blonde's panties, she placed kisses at every new inch of skin uncovered on each leg making Tara squirm. Faith removed the last of her clothing and resumed her position over the blonde.

"You are so beautiful, Tara, and I love you so much." She said starring into the deep blue eyes of her one true love.

"I love you too, Faith, and I can't describe how gorgeous you look." Tara pulled Faith down for a heated kiss.

The brunette's hand started sliding up and down on the inside of the blonde's thigh, inching closer to her apex with every upstroke. Tara broke the kiss tossing her head back when Faith finally reached her center. Tracing her fingers along the outer lips, she felt the arousal that she had caused and moaned into her witch's neck. Faith ventured in running her fingers up and down before stroking over the panting blonde's clit. Tara latched her mouth onto the brunette's breast while her own hand started to mimic what was being done to her. Finally having had enough with teasing the blonde, Faith moved two fingers to the opening and pushed in feeling Tara do the same to her. Both moaned in pleasure and rested their foreheads together and after a while sped up at the other's encouragement. Hitting their peak within seconds of each other, they called out their love's name before slumping down.

**XXX**

Faith laid her head on the blonde's chest feeling content with her position.

"That was amazing." She sighed satisfied and kissed the bit of skin beneath her mouth. "I love you, Tara."

"Mm, I love you too, Faith." Tara responded with a kiss to the top of Faith's head.

On the opposite side of the country, Shane sat at the bar in the Bronze throwing back shot after shot and running her hands through her hair in frustration. For a couple of months, the blonde slayer had distanced herself from her girlfriend subconsciously. The dark blonde had no clue what she had done or what could have happened that had Buffy pulling away from her and despite her best efforts the blonde continued to pull back. Buffy was watching from a far the deeply frustrated demi-god try to drown her anger. The slayer had tried to not let the note get to her but it had and now she didn't know if she wanted to hear Shane explain. Finally getting up the nerve to go over to her girlfriend, she saw the dark blonde clutching her glass tighter as she felt the slayer draw near.

"Did you come to tell me why you've pulled away from me these last couple of months?" Shane asked a little drunkenly.

"I haven't been pulling away. I've just been busy." Buffy reacted without really thinking and the demi-god laughed humorlessly.

"Oh really, with what? They're haven't been any really tough demons or new villains to fight." She paused long enough take another drink but started up again before the blonde could respond, "See, I was afraid of this. I would give into my feelings and all would be good for a while then you would wake up one day and realize that I was just a mistake."

"What? I don't regret being with you." She tried to convince the angered woman.

"I don't know what to think anymore. You say you want to be with me but you won't tell me what is wrong." Shane yelled slamming a fist into the counter but seeing Buffy unconsciously step back she takes a deep breath barley containing her frustration, "I'm sorry but I'm going back to my place. We shouldn't have this talk when I'm drunk."

With those words, she left Buffy at the bar before the blonde could respond again. Buffy slumped into a vacant bar seat in shock as she watched her girlfriend stalk away. Once outside the club, Shane grabbed her hair and gave an angered yell. She missed the goddess of love walking towards her in her usual fashion of a sky blue shirt and tight blue jeans. Aphrodite stopped just in front of the dark blonde with an annoyed look. When the demi-god noticed the newcomer, she, in her drunken stupor, snarled at the blonde goddess.

"What are you doing here?" Shane rudely asked.

"Trying to stop you from making a big mistake and I'm warning you to watch your tongue or there will be consequences." The Goddess warned seriously. "If you don't stop, you will lose Buffy."

"I'm not going to let myself lose Buffy." She yelled before swinging her fist.

Aphrodite caught the wild swing and, with barley any effort, tossed the demi-god into a building and through a wall. The groan on the other side of the whole was the only sign that Shane wasn't dead. The dark blonde barely managed to climb out of the hole before she saw the blurry figure of the love goddess over top her.

"I told you there would be consequences and there will be." It was all she said before she made her way towards the Bronze.

Once she entered, she made her way directly towards the blonde slayer sitting somberly at the bar. Buffy noticed a dark blonde woman sat next to her and she seemed to be staring at the depressed blonde. Buffy shifted to look at the seemingly familiar woman.

"I'm sorry, can I help you?" The blonde asked trying to be polite.

"Oh sorry, you just looked so down. Here let me buy you a drink. I'm Diana by the way." She held her hand out and Buffy shook it in greeting while signaling the bartender.

"I'm Buffy and I'm taken." She tried to avoid the drink.

"Oh don't worry, so am I." She showed her hand which had a wedding ring on it. "So, what is your partner like?"

"Uh, well, she's stubborn and sometimes hides what she's feeling but then she will look at me with this look and it's like I'm the only one in the room to her." Buffy had a small smile as she thought of times before Tara's birthday and glanced down at her hands.

"Hm, sounds like my husband." Diana grabbed the newly arrived drinks and while the blonde was looking at her hands she missed the stranger sprinkling something in her drink before handing it to her. "When he gets in one of his moods, I just smack the back of his head so he knows better."

"Thanks for this." Buffy says as she takes a drink. "Yeah, I don't know what to do with Shane sometimes. Like tonight, she just walked away and I don't know how to feel about that. You know what; I'm not going to let it end this way tonight. No, I'm going to go to her and make her talk to me." With that the blonde stood barley said a goodbye before rushing out of the club.

Shane had just made it to the foot of her bed before she collapsed in exhaustion. Holding her head in frustration, she looked up suddenly when her door to the outside opened. The dark blonde was surprised to see the slayer standing there. Looking down in shame at her actions tonight, she started to apologize.

"Buffy, I'm so sorry about how I acted tonight. Ares, I feel like an asshole." Buffy lifted Shane's head to look her in the eye.

"You did piss me off tonight and you should feel like an asshole but part of what you were saying was true. I don't regret being with you but I was unintentionally pulling away and for that I am so sorry." The blonde straddled her girlfriend's knees and held the demi-god's head to make sure she could see the regret Buffy held. "I love you, Shane. I really truly do."

"I love you too, Buffy, and I always will." Shane said before she pulled the blonde down for a heated kiss.

**XXX**

Buffy placed kisses down the demi-god's neck while she pulled at the blonde's shirt. The slayer had to break from her place on her girlfriend's neck to let the shirt go over her head and in turn tore off the dark blonde's shirt as well. Shane peppered the blonde's chest with kisses as Buffy messed with her bra clip after a bit she finally unclipped it. Once the bra was removed, the blonde pushed the demi-god back to lie back on the bed. Buffy sucked at the breast eagerly and could feel Shane responding to her.

The dark blonde had shuffled them farther up on her bed before she changed positions. Quickly getting the blonde's bra off, she flipped their positions and started teasing Buffy's breast with her mouth. Shane started working on the button to the slayer's jeans wanting to move quicker and she pulled off the rest of her love's clothes before removing her own. She settled back on top before Buffy flipped them again and started grinding her apex against Shane's own.

They were heatedly kissing everyplace they could reach while keeping to the rhythm. Buffy found the dark blonde's pulse point and latched on, sucking on the skin, and causing Shane to cry out as she held the blonde to her neck. The demi-god moved one hand to the slayer's breast caressing it gently. Letting go of her love's neck, Buffy starred into the light red eyes of Shane and sees the look of absolute love coming from the woman beneath her. The blonde feels herself falling deeper and leans down to pull the darker blonde into a passionate kiss, putting all of her love into it. Breaking out of the kiss as they both cried out in ecstasy, the slayer slumped down on top of her girlfriend.

**XXX**

"I love you, Buffy, and I'm sorry for the way I acted tonight." Shane apologized again.

"Shh, you're ruining the moment with sorries. I love you too Shane." Buffy replied as she drifted off.

"Okay, Buffy, I'll talk to you in the morning. Sleep now." The demi-god gave one last kiss to the slayer as she sleepily mumbled her own good night.

AN: Please review and tell me what you think. In case you are wondering, when Aphrodite appears to someone, she looks like your true love. Again please review and thank you for reading.


	32. Chapter 32

AN: Thank you for reading. BTVS doesn't belong to me.

Buffy smiled as she awoke feeling the warmth coming from her girlfriend as they snuggled against each other. The blonde could hear the heart beneath her ear and kissed at the edge of the tattoo that her head was against. There was a shift in the heartbeat making her look up into the face of Shane as she woke up from her dreams. When their eyes met, the two warriors shared a smile before giving each other a good morning kiss.

"Hmm, hello, Beautiful." Shane greeted when they ended the kiss.

"Good morning. How'd you sleep?" Buffy asked as she moved back where she was while they were sleeping.

"I slept great but waking up next to you is the best part." The dark blonde flirted. "How about you?"

"You took the words right out of my mouth." The slayer gave her demi-god a full smile before her stomach rumbled. "So, we should probably eat something, shouldn't we?"

"Yeah, I guess. I hope you like cereal. Sorry, wasn't planning for anyone to actually be here." Shane said as they climbed reluctantly out of bed.

The demi-god walked to her dresser to pull on some shorts and a sleeveless t-shirt while Buffy began to gather her clothes, not really wanting to put them on. The blonde was stopped from her gathering by having a pair of shorts and a tank top given to her by her smiling dark blonde warrior.

"Here, just put these on and I will drive you back to your house later, that ok?" Shane wondered as she handed her love the clothes.

"That's perfect, thank you." Buffy gave the demi-god a light kiss.

They walked into the kitchen and Shane began to grab bowls and the cereal while Buffy grabbed the milk and spoons.

"So, I've heard a little about your childhood before Olympus but you've never talked about what you did while you were up there." Buffy inquired after they sat down to eat. "I just want to know if you had any friends and what it's like up there."

"Um, I had two best friends and it was kinda like any school here on earth but it focused more on us being able to at least defend ourselves once we left. The classes were usually taught by whatever god fit the description." The demi-god answered simply.

"So, who were your friends?" The blonde slayer pushed for more information.

"Uh, one you already met. Amanda, the chick that attempted shocked my ass across a table." Shane paused to take a deep breath and had a sad look on her face causing Buffy to grab her hand in comfort. "Daniel was killed while we were on a job. We got some bad Intel from the Hunters as they had been in the area where we were supposed to be doing our job. He died saving my life and afterwards I lost it with Nightshade. I would've killed her too if Poseidon hadn't broken up the fight. He recommended I not be punished for attempting to kill someone 'cause I was just grieving for his son."

"Oh, wow. I'm so sorry. No wonder you got so pissed off with her. Why did Amanda joined them then?" Buffy wondered.

"She was already a part of the Hunters when this happened and it's a lifetime thing. She was angered by Dan's death but Amanda was always the most rational one of us. She knew that getting angry and starting fights wasn't going to do anything but that didn't stop her from mourning." The demi-god tried to defend her friend and after a long silence she looked at her girlfriend with a small smile. "Come on, we need to be eating."

In New York, Faith and Tara were waking up enjoying the feeling of having the one they love so close to them. The blonde leaned down to pull her brunette warrior into a deep kiss. When the couple broke a part they rest their foreheads against each other and smiled happily.

"Oh god, this is great. I couldn't ask for a better way to spend the days." Faith said with a genuine smile.

"As long as I live, that won't ever change." Tara promised sincerely.

"Then, my days are set for forever." The brunette hybrid responded leaning down to kiss her girlfriend deeply.

When they broke a part, Faith noticed the clock said it was just after 11:30 in the morning. The brunette informed her love of the time and realized they had to get ready and downstairs in half an hour. After showering and dressing, the couple was down stairs trying to figure out where to go. Faith was tugging nervously at the long sleeve shirt she was wearing. Finally spotting the dining room, they noticed the rooms set off to the side and standing at one of the doors was Athena, who was tugging at her shirt as well.

"Hello, Faith and Tara." The goddess greeted with a nervous smile.

"Hi." Faith returned with equal nervousness and Tara waved feeling a little uneasy.

"Um, happy early birthday." Athena said as they entered the room and the coupled noticed it had a full buffet with a drink fountain and a small table with a gift on it. "Ares' daughter mentioned you have a big appetite but if you please can you unwrap your gift first."

"Ok, sure." The demi-god agreed and opened the present pulling a light grey leather chest plate with a white owl holding a stake in its talons depicted across the center. "Wow, this is cool. Thank you."

"It was forged in Hephaestus' fire meaning it is stronger than a normal one and it's very flexible to help with movement. It's also made so you could wear it under any shirt for protection when slaying." The goddess of battle strategy grew concerned when she saw a shift in her lost daughter's eyes and had a feeling about what she caused the change. "Just so you know, I don't give this to just any of my children. This is given to the most strategic and great warriors for the side of good. You've earned this."

"But, I mean, you must know what I've done, right? How can you say I deserve this when most of the time I was the bad guy?" Faith freaked out.

"I'll let you in on something that is proven over and over throughout Olympus' history. Every god and goddess on Olympus has let their emotions over rule what they knew to be right. I've not always been the most logical but I've never gotten truly lost because of my decisions. Yes, you fell in to a great darkness but you found the light to lead you back to where you are supposed to be." The brunette god looked at Tara as she said the last part before turning back to her child." And that makes you a great warrior for the light."

"I… I don't know what to say." The younger brunette stammered with some light water in her eyes and it mirrored in her true mother's eyes before pulling her daughter into a tight hug.

"Uh… maybe we should eat." Athena said as they broke from their hug.

Lunch was spent talking about light hearted stuff and interesting stories from all parties. Half way through, Tara could sense a little that the goddess wanted to speak to her privately and asked Faith to get her some more food. The younger brunette just stood in agreement and kissed the top of the blonde's head as she walked away.

"I had a feeling you wanted to talk to me." The witch smiled not too worried about what the mother of her girlfriend wanted to say to her.

"I know I have no right in her business since I didn't get to raise her. I also see the way she looks at you and I'm happy she found someone. You have saved my daughter from the darkness in herself, so, know you have my blessing but I can be a very vengeful goddess if you break her heart." The mother in her warned.

"Thank you for your blessing and I will never purposefully hurt her." Tara promised.

"So, what did I miss?" Faith asked as she arrived back.

AN: Please review and tell me what you think. I hope that you readers like what I'm writing.


	33. Chapter 33

AN: Thank you for reviewing and you are so right that the Slayer Scythe didn't look anything like a scythe. Sorry I've taken so long. I lost my job and been stressing to get another.

Faith's birthday and the holidays passed without demons or monsters interfering in their fun. The house was filled with laughter as Faith finished a joke while Tara made pancakes with sausage and eggs for them.

"Hey, Faith, do you mind running to get some syrup?" The blonde witch asked from behind the fridge.

"Sure as long as I get extra for doing this." The brunette joked.

"You can have all of Shane's." Tara laughed causing said woman to look up with a 'what did I do' look.

"Okay, I'll be right back." Faith said after she calmed down and gave her blonde a deep kiss.

A while later the two sisters began to wonder what was taking the brunette so long to get back. Hearing the phone go off, Shane answered figuring it was Faith.

"Hey, what's taking so long? You get lost?" The dark blonde chuckled her face filled with amusement but the response caused her face into one of deep rage.

"Hello, Shane. Did you miss me?" Tiffany's crazy voice sounded through the line.

"Tiffany, what the fuck do you think you are doing even contacting me?" Shane growled into the phone.

"Oh and here I thought I could help you since your little brown headed friend is in a spot of trouble." The blonde psycho laughed as the dial tone sounded in her ear.

Shane grabbed a knife as she raced out of the house with Tara hot on her heels. They arrived to see an unarmed Faith ducking a jab from a blue fish headed creature. The dark blonde yelled out for her fellow demi-god tossing her the knife that she caught it without looking. Faith dodged another punch and drove the knife into his arm dragging it up. The demon rammed the injured arm's elbow into the brunette's jaw causing Faith to stumble back and it ran off. Tara ran and threw her arms around her girlfriend before pulling her in for a deep kiss while Shane chased after the monster but she returned moments later.

"Whatever that thing was its damn fast. You okay, Faith?" The demi-god asked concerned.

"Yeah, thing almost got the drop on me but I felt it before it could. Thing was tough too thanks for the knife." Faith answered.

"We should probably get the gang to start researching it." Tara suggested hanging onto her brunette.

As the gang gathered in the Magic Box, Faith was explaining the events of the morning when Buffy noticed the far off look in her girlfriend's eyes. The blonde moved closer so she and grabbed the dark blonde's hand.

"What's wrong? You're worrying me." Buffy whispered not wanting to disturb the rest of the group.

"I'll be fine, Buffy. I just want to get this thing." Shane answered but the blonde slayer could hear the barley restrained anger in her voice.

"Yeah, I don't really believe that but I won't push for now. Later, I expect a real answer." Buffy rested her head against the furrowed brow of her girlfriend's.

"Hey, I found it." Dawn's voice sounded hours later and continued as she handed Giles the book, "I think it's called M'Fashnik."

"Ah, a mercenary demon. There isn't much other information then what you've already described. It doesn't mention in here about where it might go." The British man informed.

"A mercenary demon? Why would one be targeting me?" Faith questioned the room.

"Well, why don't we ask it when it shows up again?" Shane asked before continuing, "If it's still alive that is, I doubt its employer was happy to see it fail."

"What are you saying, War-child? You know whose doing this?" The brunette turned to her friend expectantly.

"Was that who called you before we ran out the house?" Tara brought up.

"Maybe, I don't know. Let's just focus on the demon." The dark blonde dismissed causing Buffy to look at her suspiciously.

The ensuing silence was broken when the M'Fashnik broke through the door and charged at the blonde slayer, who was standing closest to the busted door. Buffy just had time to flip the demon over her shoulder. Faith kicked it in the head before it could stand up and left the demon dizzy. Before the brunette could finish it off, the M'Fashnik caught her leg and threw her across the room. It caught up as Buffy started to attack the demon from the front hitting it twice in the ribs before giving a hook to the jaw. The demon punched the blonde in the jaw making her stumble back. Before he could follow through, he was spun around to a jab to the head and Shane followed through with a kick to the stomach. The demon stumbled into the arms of Faith, who snapped its neck.

From outside the shop, Aphrodite stood watching the fight and turned when she felt someone behind her. Apollo stood there glaring at his elder sister and approached the window watching as well. Looking from the blonde slayer to the daughter of Ares, his face distorted into one of distain.

"You shouldn't have interfered, Aphrodite." Apollo said turning to look at her.

"I don't answer to you, Apollo, and you should watch your tongue." The blonde responded giving him a death glare.

"Or what? That husband of yours will hurt me. He's usle…" The cocky god's words were cut off by a hand gripping his throat tightly.

"I'm what exactly?" Ares growled into his ear.

"Let him go, Ares." Artemis' voice sounded behind him pointing her lance at the neck of the god of war.

There was a flash of lightning and all four were suddenly in front of their father in his throne room. Zeus stood in front of his throne with white armor, lightning bolts flashing across it, and running his hands through his greyish brown hair. Ares released Apollo and Artemis lowered her lance while all looked like they were ashamed.

"Ugh, you're all thousands of years old but there you were squabbling like little children." His deep voice made them all feel like the children he was describing. "One of you should start explaining what is going on?"

"I'm trying to stop these two from interfering in my latest prophecy." Apollo explained his side.

"What exactly did you want me to do? This is unfair to them." Aphrodite questioned.

"Enough both of you. From here until the prophecy is completed, Sunnydale is off limits to all gods. If any of you so much as step a foot in that town, I'll throw you in the depths of the Underworld." Zeus ordered.

"That is my daughter and you expect me to just let this happen." Ares hollered angrily.

"Yes, what is going to happen will be for the greater good and you are going to respect this order or I will follow through on what I just said." The thunder god's voice rang just like that as he yelled. "As for you, Aphrodite, I will allow what you have done to continue its course; however, you will confess what you have done when the time comes." He said and received a nod in return.

AN: Please review and tell me what you think. Hopefully it won't be so long between my next update.


	34. Chapter 34

AN: Thank you for reviewing. I'm sorry that I haven't updated. I got a new job and I have crazy hours. BTVS doesn't belong to me.

Shane was pacing back and forth in her room early one morning after another night of no sleep. After the mercenary demon had been killed, the dark blonde demi-god had started pulling away from everyone. '_Ares, this can't be happening. I've got to be getting punished for everything I've done. Faith isn't ready to face a team like this. I don't even know if she could do what she would have to do to make sure they can't bother anyone again._' Shane stopped her pacing and put a determined face on. '_It's time to find out._' The dark blonde grabbed two swords before walking out of her room and bursting through the door to the couple's room. Both woke with a start and grabbed the blankets to cover themselves.

"Faith, get dressed and come on we're training today." Shane barked before walking out causing the rooms occupants to look at each other confused.

Faith dressed and walked down into the basement to see her friend stretching. Before Faith could ask any questions, Shane tossed one of the swords to the brunette hybrid and attacked. Faith just blocked the blow as the dark blonde swung again keeping the younger demi-god on her toes. Eventually, they ended up in a stale mate and Faith finally grunted out a question.

"Why are you doing this?"

"You're not as strong as you could be. That demon had you on the defense and that shouldn't have happened." Shane grunted kicking the brunette in the chest to push her away before beginning another attack. "You are not only a demi-god but a Slayer as well and one demon kept you on the ropes. I'm keeping you from attacking! What if Tara had been with you? What would you do to save her?"

The dark blonde had been driving her brunette opponent back until that question when Faith had felt an anger she hadn't felt since before she turned herself in. Turning the tides on the other demi-god, she snarled her answer losing herself in her anger again.

"I would tear down the sky if it would save her." Faith growled as she swung at Shane's neck.

The dark blonde just moved her neck but the tip still made a small nick. It was enough for Shane to finally lose what restraint she had and started swinging with the power of a god. Faith saw her friend's eyes turn a deep blood red and felt another sensation go through her. Shane noticed the greying of Faith's eyes as the brunette saw the war demi-god's arm moved before it really moved. Every strike seemed to happen before it actually did leaving the advantage in Faith's favor but with no actually strategy from the dark blonde it was an even match. Finally, Faith seemed 'see' a killing blow and started to follow through but at the last moment she regained some of her senses and brought the hilt of her sword across Shane's jaw. The brunette panted from exhaustion as she watched her friend fall to the floor unconscious.

"What's going on down here?" Tara asked from the doorway in shock.

"I don't know, Tare. I don't know." Faith panted out as she collapsed to her knees.

**Shane's dream/flashback**

_**A thirteen year old Shane watched as a brown haired boy about her age was looking around paranoid near the exit/entrance to Olympus. Finally having enough of watching him seem undecided and taking one step forward to take another back, she waited until her turned from her and snuck up on him.**_

"_**What are you doing?" She asked scarring the boy.**_

"_**Why do you care?" He shot back trying to act like he didn't just jump in fright.**_

"_**I don't. I got tired of watching you try to leave. Are you going to leave? You do know that you'll probably get killed before your next birthday." Shane stated raising an eyebrow as he shrugged his shoulders.**_

"_**I can't stay here. I need to get away." The boy replied shaking his head.**_

_**Fine, go but you'll get innocent people hurt maybe even killed if you do." The young teenager gestured to the door.**_

"_**I… I don't know what to do. I couldn't live with myself if someone got hurt because of me… Alright, I'll stay. My names Daniel by the way." Daniel introduced himself unenthusiastically.**_

"_**Cool, my names Shane." **_

_**7 years later**_

"_**What the fuck just happened?" Daniel yelled as Shane and two familiar blonde twins ran through a forest. They came to a stop at a black van. "Did you just kill that guy?"**_

"_**He was pointing a gun at you! I didn't know what else to do so I just reacted!" Shane yelled back running her hands through her hair.**_

_**Suddenly, she was pushed to the ground and heard a shot ring out. Shane turned her head and just caught a glimpse of the man who fired. She turned her head when a pained moan reached her ears. Daniel was on the ground blood covering his chest where he took the bullet meant for her. Shane crawled over to her fallen friend and pulled him into her lap placing her hands over the wound trying, unsuccessfully, to stop the bleeding.**_

"_**Dan, hold on, please. We'll get you help just stay with me." Shane pleaded with tears in her eyes as she watched the life slowly drain from her best friend. "No, no, no, just open your eyes. Come on, Dan, don't let Hades take you. Just… jus…" she couldn't finish when she broke down.**_

_**A couple weeks later, Shane was sitting in a bar throwing back shot after shot sporting a bruised jaw and black eye. The dark blonde felt a hand on her shoulder reacting by choking a blonde woman that gave her an insane smile.**_

"_**What are you doing here, Tiffany?" Shane growled.**_

"_**I've got something you want." Tiffany struggled to talk with the hand around her throat.**_

"_**What's that?" The dark blonde asked not relaxing her grip in the slightest.**_

"_**The man who killed your friend." The blonde said and instantly the vice like grip on her neck disappeared.**_

_**After hours of intense torture, the man lying on the ground was pleading for his life but the woman above him wasn't listening.**_

"_**Please just let me go. I have a daughter." He said trying to get through to her.**_

"_**Maybe you should have thought of her before you killed my best friend." Shane yelled at him before kicking his ribs, breaking them.**_

"_**Please, my daughters turning four tomorrow. Her names Tara." The man pleaded again and stopped Shane in her tacks.**_

_**The dark blonde was freaking out inside her head. She grabbed a knife intending to cut the binds from him but Tiffany noticed the hesitation in Shane after the man's last plea. The blonde nodded at her brother who slit the throat of their captive.**_

"_**What the fuck are you doing?" Shane shouted at the pair.**_

"_**What you couldn't. He kills your best friend and you were going to let him go." The blonde woman stated with anger tinting her voice.**_

_**Shane reached out and grasped Tiffany by her throat again nearly crushing it. Alec grabbed the dark blonde by the neck and slammed her head to the floor multiple times, cracking Shane's skull. She looked up at them in a daze.**_

"_**I'm going to let you live for now but remember all this blood is on your hands." Tiffany said as they start to leave.**_

"_**If I ever see you again, I'll kill you both." Shane grounded out.**_

The dark blonde woke up feeling still exhausted and surprisingly in her bed. Climbing out of bed, she approached the katana resting on her dresser. She touched it sending a prayer, '_Dan, what should I do?_' After a few minutes, she came to a decision. Hearing a conversation coming from outside her room, Shane opened the door to see Buffy, Tara, and Faith sitting at the table__talking.

"Alright, I'll tell you what I know." She said stepping into the room.

Across town, the twins were pacing but stopped once they heard a loud deep voice talking to them.

"Why has this taken so long?" The voice was masculine and had anger in its words.

"It has to take time, my lord. If we push too soon then it could blow up in our faces." Alec explained.

"I don't know why you chose her in the first place any of Ares' children would have worked." The voice replied not convinced.

"Yes, but, my lord, none that we could manipulate any faster." Tiffany added trying to defend themselves.

"Push up your time table or I will find me someone else." It stopped talking after that.

"Ugh, that damned slayer is the only thing in my way." The blonde woman turned to her brother clearly upset.

"We didn't expect Shane to actually find her soul mate here but the slayer will have to be removed." Alec responded unmoved by his sister's outburst and she suddenly started laughing.

"Ha ha, I've got just the idea." She said sounding eviler as she laughed.

AN: Please review and tell me what you think. Sadly, this story is coming to an end however I have two endings in mind. One would lead to a sequel the other would end the story for good. You decide. So please review and again I'm sorry it took so long.


	35. Chapter 35

AN: Thank you for your reviews. BTVS doesn't belong to me.

"So, what the fuck happened down there? That wasn't training. That was fighting and one of you could have been killed." Tara snapped at her older sister overwhelmed with the worry she felt earlier.

"Faith, I'm sorry about what happened earlier. I didn't mean to lose control." Shane apologized looking down in shame.

You said you were going to explain, so explain." Faith tried to return the conversation back to what was really important, not knowing how to feel.

"I… I'm not sure where to start. I feel like all this shit that's going down is my punishment for what I've done in the past." She shook her head trying to clear her head, "When I was 20, I was on a mission that went horribly wrong. I separated from Danny and, when I returned, the owner of the house was there pointing a gun at my best friend… I… I didn't think and snapped his neck to protect him." Shane paused looking away from everyone not wanting to see their faces. "We were all just freaked out by what happened so when Dan stopped and started yelling at me… I… I just started arguing back but then I was on my back and… and… Danny was bleeding from a gunshot. I should have died that night not him. He should have never saved me."

"Shane, he was your best friend no matter what was going on." Tara tried to comfort her sister, still uneasy about what had happened between her and Faith.

"It doesn't end there; I started drinking heavy and fighting just for the hell of it. A couple weeks later, I was torturing the guy who killed Danny and he starting screaming about his 4 year old daughter, whose name was Tara. I felt like I couldn't even breath and I finally caught up to what I was doing. That is what Danny died for, so I could live to be a drunken murderer." The dark blonde spat the last words with anger.

Buffy had been quiet the entire time her girlfriend was talking. She kept fighting the urge to run away from this whole situation. One thought kept entering her mind, why did she always end up with people who have such hard pasts. The blonde remembered back to when she first thought that Shane wasn't as stable as she seemed and decided to ask: "Who's Tiffany?" and watched as the demi-god froze.

"What did she do?" Shane snarled feeling enraged that the other blonde would dare approach the love of her life.

"Nothing really, she told me to tell you hi and handed me the news clipping of the first man you killed. So, answer my question: who is she?" The slayer demanded.

"She and her brother were part of our team. They're kids of Hermes so they're expert thieves and they are the ones that grabbed the man that killed Danny and then killed him when I hesitated. Tiffany is defiantly psychotic while Alec doesn't care what happens to anybody outside of his sister and they are behind what's going on now. I don't know why but I know they are here in Sunnydale and they are very dangerous." The dark blonde answered seriously.

"What makes them so dangerous and were you even going to tell us about them?" Faith asked feeling betrayed by having her friend keep these big secrets from her.

"I said I'd explain and I was going to tell you. The fact they are twins is what makes them so dangerous. Like Artemis and Apollo, they could feel what the other feels, know when they are in danger, and fight like they have one mind. They are unstoppable when together no one person could beat them maybe not even the three of us." Shane explained trying to hide the hurt she felt at having the closest people to her not trust her not that she blamed them.

"So, some ex-lover with a grudge against you and you don't think to tell us that she might come after you. What were you thinking? We are a family here and you want to play it like you don't think that we should know anything about it or what you've done." Buffy snapped and stood up. "I'm leaving. I can't take any more of this."

As the blonde left, Shane couldn't help but stare helplessly as the love of her life walked away. She felt like an asshole for what she must be putting her girl through. Her first instinct was to follow the slayer but the looks on Tara's and Faith's faces were enough to keep her seated for now.

"There is only one thing that has been bothering me since our fight and that's what the hell happened to me?" The brunette hybrid growled her question.

"The god part of you came to the surface. Athena is the god of battle-strategy and you as her child have that inside you. I'm not sure exactly how it progresses but don't let it control you all the time. Use it only in an emergency." Shane warned.

"Why should I listen to you? It seems to me like this could give me an advantage in a fight. I mean, I could have killed you I saw the move to do it but I pulled back and knocked you out instead." Faith asked defiantly, cutting her mentor with her question.

"It will kill you. Our bodies aren't made to handle it forever and, with you being part slayer, I don't know how it will affect you. The only symptoms I know are my own. Children of Ares' start with losing feeling in their bodies then higher thought processes past the fight finally our hearts stops. We get the tattoos on our necks' solely for distinguishing between friend and foe but since the mind drain from Glory mine hasn't worked right." The demi-god explained as best she could.

"Something else you forgot to tell us." The brunette stated with a frown.

"I can keep it at bay if I'm not in a fight but with my father's sword so close its getting harder to resist. Buffy made it easier since she calms me like no one could before." The dark blonde turned away from her family. "I'm sure they have the sword but I don't know what for. I can tell Ares and he can deal with them. Right now, all I want to do is go to Buffy and beg her to forgive me." Shane said standing and heading for the door before either woman could stop her.

Faith sighed before wrapping her arms around the upset witch, "Let's get out of SunnyD for a bit, ok?"

"Yeah, that sounds good." Tara said as she held the brunette closer towards her.

Buffy sat in her backyard clearly upset by what she had learned that day. _'I can't believe that I fell for another person with some dark secret that refused to tell me. Am I cursed or something? Why does everyone I fall for want to keep part of themselves from me?'_ the blonde lost the rest of what she was thinking when a throat cleared behind her. There stood her girlfriend with her head down in shame.

"What do want?" Buffy spat turning away from the demi-god.

"Buffy, I'm sorry that I kept this from you. I was afraid… I was afraid that you would leave me 'cause you would think I was no better than Angel or Riley. I was afraid I was going to lose you." Shane rushed to say before she lost her nerve.

"You knew how I felt about them lying to me and you still did it. How can I trust you after this? All you had to do was be honest with me and tell me about this stupid ex of yours." The blonde could feel the tears starting to form in her eyes.

"Ok, first, I've never slept or dated the bitch and, second, look at what they did to you. They left you 'cause you pulled away when you learned the truth. So, call me selfish 'cause I wanted you close to me. You have been the only thing keeping me from going over the edge into a rage. I love you, Buffy, and that will never change or go away." The dark blonde fell to her knees in front of her love. "I am so sorry and, if you can give me even one more chance, I swear I will never hold anything back from you again."

"Stand up, please." Shane followed the plea. "I've not forgiven you, yet, but I don't want to give up on you 'cause I love you too."

Buffy saw movement coming from the gate into the backyard. For the second time in her life, Shane was on the ground as a gunshot rung out. She looked over by where she heard the shot come from and saw Tiffany run out the backyard laughing as she did. She looked over towards her blonde and saw the blood covering her shirt. The dark blonde scrambled to put pressure on the wound and pull the blonde closer to her.

"Help! Damn it, I need help." Shane screamed as Joyce ran out of the house.

After receiving a call from Joyce, Faith and Tara were driving back into the city. They were a block from the hospital when they were hit by another car causing them to be flipped off the road. The truck landed on its driver side, where Faith was pinned. The brunette was struggling to get out of her seat to see if her unconscious girlfriend was okay when a blonde haired man was at the top of the truck. Grabbing a knife, he cut the seat belt holding the blonde and pulled her out before appearing again.

"Tell Shane, she can find us here." Alec said as he tossed a paper at the enraged demi-god.

Faith hobbled into the hospital and saw an anxious and pacing demi-god. When Shane spotted her injured friend, she rushed over to see if she was okay and from the look on the brunette's face didn't help the worry in her soul. Faith looked like she had been beaten and defeated then the dark blonde noticed the absence of her sister.

"Where's Tara, Faith?" The brunette turned her head down, "Where's my sister?"

"We got hit by a car or something and I… and I was pinned to the ground. He took her. He took her and I couldn't even stop him." Faith ran her hands through her hair panicking and feeling herself start to lose herself.

"Argh!" Shane yelled as she slammed her fist through the wall. "I'll kill them."

"He gave me a note saying that's where they were." The brunette handed the note over to her angry partner, "This is obviously tr…"

The rest of the sentence was cut off by Shane's fist hitting her face, knocking her out cold.

"I'm sorry, Faith, but I can't let you get caught in the cross fire." The demi-god said in a concerned voice as she ran from the building.

In a cave across town, Alec was leaning patently against the wall of the cave as he watched his sister pace restlessly. He looked over and saw the chained up witch next to the sword of Ares.

"Why have we not just killed the witch?" He sighed tiredly.

"I want to see when she finally snaps and grabs that sword if she will feel anything when she kills her sister." Tiffany exclaimed with excitement before turning to Tara, "If only I had known about you years ago. I could've had so much fun tormenting Shane."

Alec snapped into action to stop a knife from hitting his sister. Shane charged at the duo with little thought to anything other than killing them. Tiffany grabbed her and threw her into the wall while Alec kicked her in the ribs. He followed by hitting her in the face twice before she blocked the next hit. Before she could retaliate, the other blonde kicked the back of her head knocking her back on the ground and right in front of her father's sword.

"Come on, pick it up. You know you'd be much more powerful if you do." Tiffany taunted as she kicked at the downed demi-god's ribs.

"I won't do it." She grunted her painful reply.

"Maybe you just need a bit more reason." The blonde woman nodded at her brother, who stomped on the hand closest to him twisting his foot cracking her hand.

Shane face screwed into pain but refused to scream, although the pain from the hits she was taking was fading. She looked and saw the absolute terror in her sister's eyes then looked at the sword resting within reach of her other hand. Shane grabbed the sword and felt the power surge through her as she threw her tormentor off her. In her struggle to gain control, the dark blonde could feel another presence taking over in her rage.

When the demi-god opened her eyes, they were no longer red but pure gold with the same colored lines running down from her eyes. She turned to examine herself with a wicked grin on her face and swung the sword a couple of times as if trying to get used to it.

"My lord, is that you?" Tiffany asked hesitantly.

"Of course it is, although I can almost feel the child still inside fighting feebly to get out." Although the voice sounded mostly like Shane's there was an underlying deeper voice.

"Shane?" Tara looked fearfully up at her older sister's body.

"No, useless mortal, I'm Kronos and your death will stop all her stupid struggling." The possessed demi-god stated to swing down the sword when a voice rang out, "No!"

The sword only cut through the chains and Tara starred at the red right eye of her sister. She growled run at her sister and Tara followed without hesitation. Alec moved to grab the running witch when an arrow interrupted his path. Faith glared at the man with all the hatred she had in her.

"Get her out of here, Faith. I can handle this just run." Shane ground out still trying to fight what was happening inside her.

"I'm not leaving you." The brunette growled firing another arrow at the blonde man.

Alec dodged the arrow and rushed Faith before she could reload her bow. She blocked the jab with the bow before using it to swing at his head but he blocked it with his arm. While the other two were busy, Tiffany grabbed the struggling Shane in a head lock. The dark blonde demi-god could no longer control her arms as she focused everything to keep the Titan lord from taking her over again.

"Give up, Shane. You can't fight him forever. Hades, you're losing already." The blonde mocked and Shane kept starring at the sword in her hand.

"You're right, Tiffany." Shane said out load before thinking, '_I'm sorry, Buffy._'

Faith saw the sword exit the blonde's back and Alec paused as if struck by lightning. He glanced behind him in horror then Faith took advantage and snapped his neck. She saw the other blonde fall on top of something before realizing that Shane wasn't moving from underneath her foe. Faith ran over and pulled the blonde off her friend before falling to the ground in shock as she saw the sword coming through Shane's chest. Tara fell to the ground next to her sister in tears as she pulled the body into her arms begging the gods for it not to be true.

There was another presence beside them as Ares starred at his deceased daughter with sadness. Faith snapped out of her shock and jumped up, proceeding to slam her fists against his chest with tears streaming down her.

"Where were you? This should have been your problem." The distraught brunette screamed as she pounded the god of war's chest.

"I couldn't come until it was over! Zeus banned all Gods from this area." Ares yelled at the demi-god in front of him. "I would have stopped this if I could have but let me deal with this now. You should get to Buffy."

Back at the hospital, Joyce sat by Buffy's bedside who looked like she was in shock. The couple rushed to her side fearing something was wrong.

"B, what's wrong?" Faith worried checking the blonde over and the slayer looked at them with the most confused and heartbreaking stare.

"The doctor just came in here to tell me that… that I'm pregnant. It can't be possible. They must have gotten confused or something." Buffy informed them still freaking out but noticing the lack of a certain dark blonde she asked, "Where's Shane?"

AN: There you go. Sorry it took so long to put this up. So please review and tell me what you think. Also, decide if you would like to see a sequel to this story or not and thank you for reading.


	36. Chapter 36

AN: This is the last chapter for this story and as most of the reviews I read it will end with a plan for a sequel. Thank you for everybody that took their time to read this and review. BTVS doesn't belong to me.

The couple was still starring at the other slayer in shock unable to answer Buffy's question. The group didn't notice when another presence was in the room until the new person cleared their throat. Everybody turned to see who had entered, expecting to see a hospital employee, and shocked to see a beautiful woman.

"What are you doing here, Diana?" Buffy asked confused.

"I'm sorry for deceiving you child, but that is not my true identity. I am Aphrodite and I've come to explain my actions towards you." the goddess of love answered solemnly.

"What are you talking about and can someone please just tell me where Shane is?" The blonde yelled losing her patience and watched as everyone's face turned away from her gaze.

"I'm sorry, B. Shane died tonight fighting those bastards." Faith growled out the last part still wanting to hurt them.

"No, no, sh… she ca… can't be … be dead. Ok, this can't be happening. I'm suddenly pregnant and Shane's dead. Why is this happening?" Buffy broke down into tears still mumbling in her grief.

"There was a prophecy about Shane and I tried to advert it on the pleas of my husband, Ares." Everybody turned to listen to the goddess, "I met with you, Buffy, that night to do exactly this. I sprinkled a powder of my mother's design so you would become pregnant. Shane's biggest dream was to have a family and so she would do anything to keep that, including not chasing after the traitors, leaving that mess to someone else. When my father told me that we could no longer interfere, I knew my efforts would be in vain."

"So, we are just toys for you, Gods, to play with our very lives." Faith raged.

"The baby is Shane's?" the blonde witch was staring at the other slayer's stomach area with an unreadable emotion.

"Yes, the baby will be one quarter god and three quarters slayer." In one sentence, the two blonde humans broke down.

Faith pulled her love into her arms trying to be strong for her family, watching the crying Joyce pull an equally crying slayer into her arms. Aphrodite left as suddenly as she appeared to leave the broken family in their misery.

***15 years later***

"Little Warrior, hurry up or you're going to be late for school." Faith yelled as she pounded on the door.

Inside a light haired blonde rose from her bed with a sigh, she threw on some clothes and went to her mirror to comb her hair. Just like every average teenager, she didn't want to go to school but her dark red eyes made her life miserable. The quarter demi-god walked out of her bedroom to see her two aunts sitting at the table like there was nothing wrong with the world. Danielle grew up knowing that the Gods of Olympus were real and ever since she was old enough to remember her aunt Faith had been teaching her how to defend herself. That turned into offensive moves by the time she was nine years old. Danni never felt better than when she was holding a weapon of some sort.

Buffy and Faith had argued multiple times about whether the blonde child should be taught what was in her heart. The blonde slayer wanted to keep her daughter far from the world that had taken the love of her life, she believed, but the brunette was not easily swayed. She started training her mentor's child behind Buffy's back until her mother found out and tried to take Danielle away from the two by fleeing Sunnydale. Tara was the one that convinced the enraged slayer that it was Shane's choice to fight and no one forced her to.

***Flashback***

"_No, I will not let this continue. Shane died at the whims of those assholes and I will not the last part of her I have left be subject to that." Buffy yelled at the couple._

"_She was my sister Buffy, and I have the same worries you do but this way I know that some stray demon or monster won't be able to take away my niece." Tara yelled back with tears in her eyes. "Or you."_

_The blonde slayer was shocked to hear the normally quiet witch yell at her. Buffy let what Tara was telling her sink in before she hung her head with regret and nodded her head in agreement._

***End flashback***

Buffy was watching her daughter stand at the walk way to the kitchen. She felt sorry for her child since she was never able to fit in with other kids her age. Her eyes made everyone afraid of her even if she hadn't had a bad reputation, much like the blonde did. The day her daughter's school called, when she had been in first grade, and told her to come as they wanted to talk about Danielle's behavior in class that day had worried the blonde to the bone. The teacher and other members of the staff thought that her daughter was an overly aggressive child since she had shoved a boy across the room with one push. Buffy argued that Danielle was used to playing around with her aunt Faith but they still kicked the blonde child out of the school.

The slayer had found another school but soon found the same problem there. Ares had offered multiple times to take Danielle to Olympus to be taught and with kids that could understand her but Buffy, still harboring a grudge against the Gods, refused every time. This had caused her biggest fight with the blonde hybrid and the slayer still refused to ever let the Gods take her child away.

Faith had sensed her niece in the hall behind her and the brunette didn't want to rush the teen any more than she was. The brunette knew that Danielle hated school and Faith couldn't blame her. She had been in her protégé's place before and thought Buffy was making a mistake when refusing Ares. It was not her place to decide and she knew this but a part of her wanted the girl to be with people that could understand her. The months after Shane's death had taken their toll on the brunette slayer. She had to be strong through the grief and keep Buffy from doing anything stupid while she was pregnant or after she had the baby. One of the nights, after Danielle was born, Faith went to the baby's room.

***Flashback***

_Faith starred down into the crib at the sleeping baby. The baby looked so peacefully just resting the night away with no worries of monsters or of any of the evil in the world. As if the child had felt someone starring at her, she opened her deep red eyes wide and smiled at the form of her aunt. The brunette could see no fear in her niece's eyes as she starred up at the other hybrid. Faith noticed Danielle start to wiggle like she wanted to be picked up, so that is exactly what Faith did._

"_Hey there, Danni." Faith spoke quietly to the baby in her arms, "Look at you, so brave just like your mommies but don't worry I won't ever let anything happen to you, my Little Warrior."_

_The thought of Shane not being able to hold her child in her own arms or even talk to her had Faith's eyes filling with tears. She had been so strong for so long but one innocent look from this baby had the brunette on her knees with tears streaming down her face. She held Danielle so close to her chest like she was the last thing keeping her tied to the world. That was how Tara found them a few hours later._

***End flashback***

Tara could remember that night she watch her love finally break down. She had been so frozen watching her normally strong girlfriend sobbing while holding onto her niece. Tara loved Danielle and, no matter how moody the teenager sometimes got, her niece would never get an attitude with the blonde witch. She could see the essence of her sister in those times. The blonde witch knew that Danielle was the perfect mixture of Buffy and Shane. Tara could see that no matter how terrible people treated her, she would stand to fight against evil if solely to protect her family. There are still times when the blonde can see that Danielle feels out of place in her own home and it saddens Tara to tears. Other times, her niece acts like any happy teenager especially when Buffy or Faith train with her or when surrounded by her 'family'.

"Come on, Little Warrior, we need to get moving." Faith stood and kissed Tara lovingly before throwing a package of pop-tarts at the teen, "Eat those on the way."

"Yes Ma'am." Danielle saluted sarcastically at her aunt before turning around to face her mom, "I'll see you later, Mom. I love you."

"I love you too, Danni." Buffy said as she pulled her girl in for a hug and kissed her check.

While Danielle was sitting in her math class, she felt a presence similar to her aunt Faith's approach the school and not long after a call came in to her class. After a short talk, the teacher turned to the blonde and told her that her uncle was here to pick her up. Danielle hid the confusion on her face as she was sure that Xander was not at the school but that didn't stop her from picking up her back and walking out of the class room. The hybrid didn't know what to do since she didn't have a weapon on her or a phone yet to call her mom or aunt. Danielle decided to try and get whoever was here outside of school grounds so she could fight without people noticing or innocents getting caught in the crossfire. Standing in front of the secretary's desk was a man she had never seen before; he was tall and looked to be about the same age as her mom and wearing a black jacket with jeans. The secretary was laughing at something the man was saying before they noticed her.

"Hello there, Danielle, It's been too long since I've seen you." The stranger greeted with a false smile and pulled her into a hug, "Play along or I will kill everyone her and you know I can."

"Yeah, it has but let's not waste time here." The blonde responded after swallowing down her nervousness.

"So, you do know him Miss Summers." The secretary started while double checking.

"Yeah, this is my uncle. So if it's okay, can we leave?" Danielle asked hopefully.

"Sure, sounds alright with me." She said letting them leave.

Once outside, the man led her to a small bit of water and tossed a coin into it. Out of the water raised a portal though the other side was blurry but were stopped before he could push the teen through the portal by a shout from by the other side of the road. There stood Faith charging at the stranger holding her niece. Danielle took his loss of attention to drive her elbow into her captor before swinging a right hook at his chin. He was knocked back towards the portal he had summoned and at the last minute grabbed his target pulling her through with him. By the time, Faith made it there the portal closed and the normally tough brunette fell to the ground in shock.

AN: This is the last chapter of the Demi-good. So, I hope I left it in a good place and hopefully it won't take too long to get the sequel up. Please review and thank you for reading.


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